Introduction

Copper-67 is useful from both therapeutic and diagnostic standpoints due to its medium energy beta particle, gamma emissions, and 2.6-day half-life. Moreover, since copper radioisotopes are chemically identical, the same radiopharmaceutical can be used for ⁶⁴Cu PET imaging to pre-screen of patients and ⁶⁷Cu based radionuclide therapy. For these reasons, the usage of ⁶⁷Cu in radiotherapy has long been arisen. However until now, its widespread use has been limited by unreliable supplies, cost, and difficulty in obtaining therapeutic quantities. The recent breakthrough of copper-67 production provides an opportunity to reassess its use in radiotherapy.

Summary

In this work, Xiankai Sun and his co-workers have evaluated and demonstrated the practical use of ⁶⁷Cu in radioimmunotherapy. To demonstrate the concept, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) antibody, pertuzumab, was labeled with ⁶⁷Cu isotope. The radiolabeling efficiency was two-order of magnitude higher compared to literature reports. Mice bearing HER2+ xenografts showed ⁶⁷Cu-dose dependent tumor-growth inhibition from ⁶⁷Cu-labeled-Pertuzumab co-administered with trastuzumab. Moreover, authors visualized and measured [⁶⁷Cu]Cu-NOTA-Pertuzumab uptake quantitatively by SPECT imaging.

Results from nanoScan^® SPECT/CT

Thanks to technological advances of Mediso's SPECT/CT, researchers were able to perform quantitative data analysis.

Full article on nature.com