CageTag: Caged Tharanostics as a Universal Platform for Nuclear Medicine
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Chemistry
Abstract
Theranostics is a new approach in personalised medicine that is starting to have a major clinical impact. It typically uses two almost identical pharmaceuticals, one to diagnose and image disease, the other to treat. One branch of theranostics uses elements that emit radiation, meaning a theranostic pair can be obtained by simply switching a single atom. This works as some elements produce radioactive energy emission that can pass straight through the body and are well suited for diagnosis, using imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography, while others give off radioactive particles that are absorbed by the body and can be used to kill the diseased tissue (e.g. tumour).
The major difference compared to conventional external beam radiotherapy is that theranostics are selective as they recognise the specific tissue that is diseased such that healthy tissue damage is much lower. This leads to dramatically reduced side effects for patients. Using the corresponding imaging pharmaceutical can also allow treatment response to be accurately assessed meaning the ideal dose can be administered (i.e. enough to ensure that the tumour has been treated but without causing harm to the patient).
In this research, we will investigate a new way of transporting the radioactive element to the diseased tissue. This method uses a miniature cage that can house the radioactive element, so that when it is attached to a recognition part of the pharmaceutical the radiation is transported to the diseased tissue. Moreover, this miniature cage has been designed to lock in different elements so it is incredibly facile to switch between a diagnosis and therapeutic pharmaceutical. This will make the development of new personalised therapies that can target and treat different diseases much more accessible and reduce regulatory hurdles.
The major difference compared to conventional external beam radiotherapy is that theranostics are selective as they recognise the specific tissue that is diseased such that healthy tissue damage is much lower. This leads to dramatically reduced side effects for patients. Using the corresponding imaging pharmaceutical can also allow treatment response to be accurately assessed meaning the ideal dose can be administered (i.e. enough to ensure that the tumour has been treated but without causing harm to the patient).
In this research, we will investigate a new way of transporting the radioactive element to the diseased tissue. This method uses a miniature cage that can house the radioactive element, so that when it is attached to a recognition part of the pharmaceutical the radiation is transported to the diseased tissue. Moreover, this miniature cage has been designed to lock in different elements so it is incredibly facile to switch between a diagnosis and therapeutic pharmaceutical. This will make the development of new personalised therapies that can target and treat different diseases much more accessible and reduce regulatory hurdles.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Paul Lusby (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | There are several discoveries and achievement as a result of this work. Firstly, we have developed a method of synthesising functionalised cage delivery systems. These cage systems have been used to bind the radio-isotopic guest pertechnetate and the uptake of the guest under in vivo conditions has been studied and how this is influenced by the external functionalisation. nest we have studied how modification of the cage exterior alters in vivo biodistribution. Here counterintuitive results have been obtained; the guest that is most able at uptaking the guest in vitro is the poorest at retaining the guests in vivo. We are currently attempting to ascertain to key reasons for this discrepency. |
| Exploitation Route | The funding has the potential to be taken forward by those studying different health condition by tuning the distribution to target different molecular markers. There are also other opportunities that are currently being explored to apply this to different radio-isotopes. |
| Sectors | Healthcare |