Swiss researchers develop new weapon against lymphoma
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According to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the cancer can be effectively combated with the radioactive element terbium. However, the therapy has not yet been tested on humans.
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In laboratory experiments, the new active ingredient with the substance terbium-161 killed cancer cells twice to 43 times as well as an active ingredient with the substance lutetium-177, which is already used in hospitals.
This result was published on Monday in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Mice suffering from cancer that were treated with terbium-161 survived on average twice as long as their counterparts that had been injected with the existing substance.
“Our results provide good indications that the active substance could also prove to be an effective agent against lymphomas in humans,” said first author Elisa Rioja-Blanco in a PSI press release on the study.
Coupled to antibodies
Together with researchers from Inselspital Bern, the PSI researchers have coupled the radioactive substance terbium-161 to an antibody. In future, it could be injected into the blood of affected patients.
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The antibody docks onto a structure in the body that is frequently found in lymphoma tumour cells: the so-called CD30 receptor. There it kills cancer cells with its radioactive radiation. According to the PSI, the tumour cells form the CD30 receptor in almost a third of all lymphoma patients.
Principle already known
This principle is well known – and is already being used in hospitals. However, such so-called radionuclide therapies are currently carried out with the nuclide lutetium-177.
According to the PSI, the active substance is used for prostate cancer and tumours that arise from hormone-producing cells. However, therapy with lutetium-177 is not suitable for lymph gland cancer, as individual tumour cells and smaller cancer cell clusters, which occur in lymph gland cancer, escape the element. Terbium-161 fires more precise projectiles, according to the researchers.
Clinical studies will now show whether the new therapy actually works in humans.
Adapted from German by DeepL/ac
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