A research group at Osaka University has succeeded in producing a therapeutic drug that emits alpha rays, which are highly effective in treating cancer.
In the treatment using radiopharmaceuticals so far, radiation called beta rays has been mainly used.However, beta rays have relatively weak energy and may not have a sufficient therapeutic effect.
Therefore, in recent years, treatment using alpha rays, which has a higher therapeutic effect and has less effect on surrounding normal cells, has attracted attention.The university, which has been a world leader in the production of astatine, an alpha-emitting nuclide, now uses the large-scale accelerator of the university's Nuclear Physics Research Center and the equipment of the university's Radiation Science Infrastructure Organization to inject alpha rays. Succeeded in producing a drug (astatinated sodium).Since astatine is an element that has properties similar to iodine, when this preparation was administered to model mice with differentiated thyroid cancer that have the property of taking up iodine, the drug accumulated specifically in the tumor, and it was remarkable. It is said that the tumor retraction effect was confirmed.
Alpha-ray nuclear medicine treatment with the developed astatinated sodium injection solution is a systemic therapy unlike external irradiation, which is a local therapy, and is characterized by slow irradiation from inside the body by administration with an injectable drug without irradiating from outside the body. is.In addition to being able to be used for advanced cancer with multiple metastases, it can also be administered at outpatient clinics, and is expected to be a treatment that places less burden on patients.It is said that preparations are currently underway for a doctor-led clinical trial at Osaka University Hospital, and it is expected to be an epoch-making treatment for intractable thyroid cancer for which conventional treatment does not work.
