Theragnostic 64Cu/67Cu Radioisotopes Production With RFT-30 Cyclotron

⁶⁴Cu and ⁶⁷Cu are theragnostic pair radionuclides with promising application in the nuclear medicine. ⁶⁴Cu is PET nuclide for the non-invasive diagnosis and ⁶⁷Cu is beta emitter for therapy of various cancers. This study discusses optimization efforts in the production of these radioactive coppers carried out with 30 MeV cyclotron. Optimized conditions include target preparation, chemical separation, and quality control. The production routes of ⁶⁴Cu and ⁶⁷Cu were studied based on the nuclear reactions of ⁶⁴Ni(p,n)⁶⁴Cu and ⁷⁰Zn(p,α)⁶⁷Cu. The produced ⁶⁴Cu and ⁶⁷Cu have >99.9% of the radionuclidic purity. The yield at the end of bombardment (EOB) of ⁶⁴Cu and ⁶⁷Cu is 28.5 MBq/μAh and ⁶⁷Cu is 0.58 MBq/μAh, respectively.

67Cu Production Capabilities: A Mini Review

Is the ⁶⁷Cu production worldwide feasible for expanding preclinical and clinical studies? How can we face the ingrowing demands of this emerging and promising theranostic radionuclide for personalized therapies? This review looks at the different production routes, including the accelerator- and reactor-based ones, providing a comprehensive overview of the actual ⁶⁷Cu supply, with brief insight into its use in non-clinical and clinical studies. In addition to the most often explored nuclear reactions, this work focuses on the ⁶⁷Cu separation and purification techniques, as well as the target material recovery procedures that are mandatory for the economic sustainability of the production cycle. The quality aspects, such as radiochemical, chemical, and radionuclidic purity, with particular attention to the coproduction of the counterpart ⁶⁴Cu, are also taken into account, with detailed comparisons among the different production routes. Future possibilities related to new infrastructures are included in this work, as well as new developments on the radiopharmaceuticals aspects.

Simple separation of 67Cu from bulk zinc by coprecipitation using hydrogen sulfide gas and silver nitrate

Copper-67 (67Cu), a feasible radionuclide for diagnosis and radiotherapy, is commercially generated from a bulk zinc (Zn) target using the 68Zn(p, 2p)67Cu and 68Zn(γ, p)67Cu nuclear reactions. Because it uses a large amount of zinc, the separation is complex – requiring a combination of three ion exchange columns – and is time-consuming (about 1 day). We developed a quick and easy separation method referred to as “double coprecipitation” using H2S gas and silver nitrate as coprecipitation agents in place of ion exchange columns. We compared this method with a conventional separation method using three ion exchange columns (AG50W-X8, AG1-X8, and Chelex-100) for a natural zinc (natZn) target irradiated by a proton beam. The product quality and the recovery rate with the new method were competitive with the conventional method, and the total operation time was reduced from 1 day to <3 h.

Radiometals for imaging and theranostics, current production, and future perspectives

The aim of this review is to make the reader familiar with currently available radiometals, their production modes, capacities, and quality concerns related to their medical use, as well as new emerging radiometals and irradiation technologies from the perspective of their diagnostic and theranostic applications. Production methods of ¹⁷⁷ Lu serve as an example of various issues related to the production yield, specific activity, radionuclidic and chemical purity, and production economy. Other radiometals that are currently used or explored for potential medical applications, with particular focus on their theranostic value, are discussed. Using radiometals for diagnostic imaging and therapy is on the rise. The high demand for radiometals for medical use prompts investigations towards using alternative irradiation reactions, while using existing nuclear reactors and accelerator facilities. This review discusses these production capacities and what is necessary to cover the growing demand for theranostic nuclides.

A novel approach to medical radioisotope production using inverse kinematics: A successful production test of the theranostic radionuclide 67Cu

A novel method for the production of important medical radioisotopes has been developed. The approach is based on performing the nuclear reaction in inverse kinematics, namely sending a heavy-ion beam of appropriate energy on a light target (e.g. H, d, He) and collecting the isotope of interest. In this work, as a proof-of-concept, we studied the production of the theranostic radionuclide ⁶⁷Cu (T_1/2 = 62 h) via the reaction of a ⁷⁰Zn beam at 15 MeV/nucleon with a hydrogen gas target. The ⁶⁷Cu radionuclide alongside other coproduced isotopes, was collected after the gas target on an aluminum catcher foil and their radioactivity was measured by off-line γ-ray analysis. After 36 h post irradiation, apart from the product of interest ⁶⁷Cu, the main radioimpurity coming from the ⁷⁰Zn + p reaction was ^69mZn (T_1/2 = 13.8 h), which can be reduced by further radio-cooling. Moreover, along with the radionuclide of interest produced in inverse kinematics, the production of additional radioisotopes is possible by making use of the forward-focused neutrons from the reaction and allowing them to interact with a secondary target. A preliminary successful test of this concept was realized in the present study. The main requirement to obtain activities appropriate for preclinical studies is the development of high-intensity heavy-ion primary beams.