Activities｜Development of α-emitting radionuclide therapy to enhance healthy longevity in human society

Development of targeted alpha-particle therapy

●Unstable (short half-life) radioactive isotopes can be produced with an accelerator (usually a cyclotron). The existing accelerators are not suitable, however, for commercial production of the isotopes as pharmaceutical ingredients. It is necessary to develop a new small accelerator dedicated to this purpose at a low cost and to build up a system so that the short-lived isotopes can be produced and provided to every medical institution in this country.

²¹¹At-AAMT：
α-emitting radiopharmaceuticals,
²¹¹A-AAMT(Astato-Alpha-Methyl-L-Tyrosine)
targeting cancer cells via LAT1
(L-type Amino acid Transporter 1)

We have developed an amino acid PET probe targeting LAT1
that is specifically overexpressed in many types of cancers and applied the probe to PET imaging.

Challenges for commercialization and application to nuclear medicine

It is necessary to manufacture α-emitting nuclides, ²¹¹At.

A compact and high-intensity new accelerator, skeleton cyclotron,
is in development.

We need facilities capable of providing radioactive isotopes,
the half-life of which is several hours, for radiopharmaceuticals

Roadmap

Quantum beam Applications for Safe and Smart society (QASS)
Osaka University