Franck Denat: The crucial role of chemistry in the design of radiopharmaceuticals for theranostics and multimodal imaging

Dates
25/09/2024
Horaires

15h45 - 17h30

Lieu

Amphi PC

Nuclear medicine has become a powerful tool in the area of personalized care, especially in oncology. Labeling molecules with g or positron emitters allows the visualization of tumors with nuclear imaging techniques (respectively SPECT and PET) while the same molecules labeled with b- or a emitting radioisotopes can be used for targeted radiotherapy. “See what you treat and treat what you see” is made possible through the use of radiotheranostics. Indeed, imaging agents can be used to detect the disease, select patients likely to respond to the treatment with a therapeutic analog, and then monitor the efficacy of this treatment. The recent success of two radiopharmaceuticals, Lutathera® and Pluvicto®, both 177Lu radiolabeled molecules, for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer respectively, has revolutionized the field of nuclear medicine. These therapeutic compounds were developed alongside their PET imaging companions, labeled with 68Ga. Another growing field of research is the combination of nuclear imaging with another imaging modality, such as MRI, or optical imaging for fluorescence-guided surgery. 

In this highly interdisciplinary research field, chemistry plays a crucial role. In this presentation, we will discuss through several examples the impact of targeting vectors, radiometal chelators, fluorophores, linkers, bioconjugation strategies, and their combination, on pharmacokinetics and imaging and/or therapeutic efficacy of radiopharmaceuticals.