An Overview of Auger-Electron Radionuclide Therapy

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An Overview of Auger-Electron Radionuclide Therapy Current Drug Discovery Technologies, 2010, 7, 000-000 1 Targeting the Nucleus: An Overview of Auger-Electron Radionuclide Therapy Bart Cornelissen* and Katherine A Vallis MRC/CRUK Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom Abstract: The review presented here lays out the present state of the art in the field of radionuclide therapies specifically targeted against the nucleus of cancer cells, focussing on the use of Auger-electron-emitters. Nuclear localisation of radi- onuclides increases DNA damage and cell kill, and, in the case of Auger-electron therapy, is deemed necessary for thera- peutic effect. Several strategies will be discussed to direct radionuclides to the nucleoplasm, even to specific protein tar- gets within the nucleus. An overview is given of the applications of Auger-electron-emitting radionuclide therapy target- ing the nucleus. Finally, a few suggestions are made as how radioimmunotherapy with nuclear targets can be improved, and the challenges that might be met, such as how to perform accurate dosimetry measurements, are examined. Keywords: Auger-electron, radionuclide, radioimmunotherapy, nucleus, targeted radiotherapy, molecular radiotherapy, PRRT. 1. INTRODUCTION tumour from within. Because of tumour-specific delivery, radionuclide therapy is also called targeted or molecular ra- The management of solid cancers relies on a combination diotherapy (tRT). Where antibodies or peptides are used to of surgery, systemic chemotherapy and locally delivered guide the radionuclide to epitopes or receptors on malignant radiotherapy. External beam X-ray radiotherapy (XRT) is cells, the terms radioimmunotherapy (RIT) or peptide recep- used in approximately 50% of all cancer patients as it is able tor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) are used, respectively. Es- to cause DNA damage to tumour cells, thereby initiating pecially for non-resectable or metastatic disease, tRT can be apoptosis, senescence, necrosis, genetic instability, mitotic a valuable addition to the therapeutic repertoire. catastrophe and eventually tumour regression [1, 2]. XRT, as a stand-alone modality or in combination with chemother- The types of radionuclides used for tRT emit either 4He2+ apy, has a good record in the management of locally con- particles (alpha-particles), high energy electrons originating fined disease, but is not effective for metastatic lesions or from the isotope’s nucleus (beta-particles), or low energy disseminated disease. Radionuclide therapy uses radioiso- electrons from the electron mantle (Auger-electrons (AE), topes that emit charged particles such as electrons or alpha Coster-Kroning (CK) and super-Coster-Kroning electrons particles to cause DNA damage and kill the tumour. These (sCK), and internal conversion electrons (CE)) [5-7]. All of radionuclides are sometimes used as such, as is the case for these particles can result in DNA damage, and all do so by 131I for thyroid ablation therapy [3], or 89Sr for the manage- causing direct damage to DNA, as well as ionisation of water ment of pain due to bone metastases [4]. More often than molecules, creating reactive oxygen species (ROS), which in not, the radionuclides are incorporated in a “carrier” mole- turn cause secondary ionisations and damage of DNA. The cule, which delivers the radionuclide to the tumour. This contribution of direct DNA ionisation is believed to be much carrier can be (1) a small molecule (e.g. 125/131I-labelled higher for high linear energy transfer (LET) particles like metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), 211At-labelled meta- alpha-particles and Auger-electrons, compared to low-LET astatobenzylguanidine (MABG), 32P-orthophosphate, 153Sm- radiation like XRT and beta-particles [5-17]. The range or ethylenediamine tetra(methylene phosphonic acid) (EDTMP) track-length of alpha and beta particles depends on their ki- or 186Re-1-Hydroxy Ethylidene-1,1-Diphosphonic Acid netic energy, but ranges from 50 to 100 μm for alpha parti- (HEDP)); (2) a peptide (111In-octreotide, 177Lu-octreotide); cles and is in the centimetre range for beta particles. There- (3) a protein (111In-labelled epidermal growth factor (EGF)), fore, alpha- or beta-emitting isotopes are able to deposit their (4) an oligonucleotide, (5) an affibody or antibody or its energy into cells, and cause DNA damage, even if their de- fragments (211At-anti-Her2 affibodies, Bexxar, Zevalin), or cay takes place outside those cells. The case for AEs is very (6) a nanoparticle into which one of the above is incorpo- different as their track length is much shorter, 1 nm to 30 μm rated. This complex of radionuclide and carrier molecule is in water, depending on their kinetic energy. In the case of referred to as a radiopharmaceutical. Once a radiopharma- 125I, most of the AE have a low energy, and most of the en- ceutical is localised in a cancerous lesion, it can irradiate the ergy is deposited in a very small sphere around the decaying radionuclide - up to 107 Gy in a 5 nm sphere [18] - causing a large number of ionisations, although the more energetic AE, *Address correspondence to this author at the MRC/CRUK Gray Institute CE, and diffusion of long-living ROS can induce ionisations for Radiation Oncology and Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Tel: ++44 1865 225874; Fax: ++44 1865 857127; micrometres away from the decay site [19]. When emitted in E-mail: [email protected] the nucleus, Auger-electrons exhibit the characteristics of 1570-1638/10 $55.00+.00 © 2010 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd. 2 Current Drug Discovery Technologies, 2010, Vol. 7, No. 4 Cornelissen and Vallis high linear energy transfer (LET) particles [18]. CK and sCK observed, but only partial tumour regressions were observed electrons have even lower kinetic energies and cause less in the rats bearing larger (> 8 cm3) lesions. Auger-electron ionisations than AE. CEs have higher energies, and have a therapy can thus be compared conceptually with alpha- and much larger range compared to Auger-electrons, some as beta-therapy based largely on their pathlength and their LET. large as 250 μm (for 125I, at least [20, 21]), and are also less Direct comparison of the various Auger electron emitting densely ionising [22, 23]. An overview of a selection of isotopes with each other, however, is complicated by the Auger-electron-emitters and their characteristics is given in diverse electron emission spectra of these isotopes. For ex- Table 1. ample, 125I emits on average 12.2 Auger-electrons per decay, compared to 6.8 Auger-electrons emitted per decay by 111In, The review presented here, will mainly focus on the use 111 but for In the average energy of the AE is higher, and it of Auger-electron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals for tRT. emits more than three-fold more higher-energy conversion 2. AUGER-ELECTRON THERAPY: WHY IS NU- electrons, and is accompanied by two gamma-photon emis- CLEAR TARGETING NECESSARY? sions which are considerably higher in energy than the 35 keV photon from 125I (Table 1) [19, 41]. Auger-electrons, discovered in 1922 by Lise Meitner [24] and in 1923 by Pierre Auger [25], are formed when after The relatively short range of most Auger-electrons neces- electron capture, the vacancy created in an inner shell is sitates the proximity of the radionuclide to the DNA. Micro- filled with an electron from a higher energy level. Most of dosimetric modelling shows that, when placed inside the the excess energy is emitted as X-ray energy, but some is nucleus of a cell, the amount of energy deposited by Auger- released as kinetic energy given to another electron, then electron-emitters on the DNA is approximately 30-fold called Auger electron, which is emitted. [5, 8, 26-29]. A higher than when it is placed on the membrane [42-44], summary of the characteristics of Auger-electron-emitters highlighting the need for nuclear localisation [19, 45, 46]. and their emissions is given in Table 1. Therefore, the carrier molecule transporting the radionuclide must direct it there. This can be achieved by (1) allowing the The Auger-electron-emitters mainly used for in vitro or 125 111 123 carrier to be built into DNA, as for example is the case with in vivo therapy are I, In, and I; and to a lesser extent 125 125 67 99m 201 125 I-labelled 5-iododeoxyuridine ( I-IUdR) [47-49]; (2) Ga, Tc, and Tl [9, 29]. I is the most studied Auger- translocation of the radioisotope to the nucleus, as for 111In- electron-emitter, and has been used for many in vitro ex- octreotide [50], 111In-labelled epidermal growth factor (EGF) periments, studying the different effects of low-energy elec- [51-54], or radiolabelled steroids such as 125I-tamoxifen [55- trons on DNA [9, 18, 30-32]. Its long half-life, 60 days, 58], by using the normal nuclear translocation of the targeted however, makes it somewhat less practical for clinical appli- receptor (somatostatin (sst), EGF receptor (EGFR), or estro- cations. The physical half-life of the radionuclides should gen receptor (ER) respectively); (3) using peptides or pro- preferably be in the same order of magnitude as the biologi- teins that have been modified to include a nuclear localisa- cal half-life. A too long physical half-life increases the nec- tion sequence (NLS) [59, 60]; (4) making use of the ability essary amount of radionuclides to be delivered to the tumour of radiolabelled oligonucleotides or peptide nucleic acids cells to allow for reasonable amounts of decays before excre- (PNAs) to bind to nuclear DNA [7, 19, 61-63]. Examples tion. A shorter physical half-life, on the other hand, will not from these categories will be highlighted in section 3 of this give enough time for the targeting process to take place. It review. seems reasonable to assume that the most suitable physical half-lives range from a few hours up to some days when tar- Internalisation and nuclear localisation is not necessary geting of disseminated cells is considered.
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