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National Cancer Institute support for targeted alpha-emitter therapy

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Radiopharmaceutical targeted therapy (RPT) has been studied for decades; however, recent clinical trials demonstrating efficacy have helped renewed interest in the modality.

Methods

This article reviews National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s support of RPT through communication via workshops and interest groups, through funding extramural programs in academia and small business, and through intramural research, including preclinical and clinical studies.

Results

NCI has co-organized workshops and organized interest groups on RPT and RPT dosimetry to encourage the community and facilitate rigorous preclinical and clinical studies. NCI has been supporting RPT research through various mechanisms. Research has been funded through peer-reviewed NCI Research and Program Grants (RPG) and NCI Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center, which funds small business-initiated projects, some of which have led to clinical trials. The NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP)’s Radiopharmaceutical Development Initiative supports RPT in NCI-funded clinical trials, including Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core (IROC) expertise in imaging QA and dosimetry procedures. Preclinical targeted a-emitter therapy (TAT) research at the NCI’s intramural program is ongoing, building on foundational work dating back to the 1980s. Ongoing “bench-to-bedside” efforts leverage the unique infrastructure of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Clinical Center.

Conclusion

Given the great potential of RPT, our goal is to continue to encourage its development that will generate the high-quality evidence needed to bring this multidisciplinary treatment to patients.

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Data availability

Data are from public databases.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Bhadrasain “Vik” Vikram for critical review and comments on the manuscript.

Funding

The authors are federal employees of the NCI (except Martin Brechbiel, who is a former federal employee of the NCI and is retired).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Research Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Dr., Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Julie A. Hong, Jeff Buchsbaum, C. Norman Coleman, Michael Espey & Jacek Capala

  2. Radiation Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Martin Brechbiel, C. Norman Coleman & Freddy E. Escorcia

  3. Small Business Innovation Research Development Center, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Christie A. Canaria & Deepa Narayanan

  4. Molecular Imaging Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Freddy E. Escorcia & Frank Lin

  5. Investigational Drug Branch, Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Charles Kunos

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  1. Julie A. Hong
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Jacek Capala, Michael Espey; data analysis: Julie A. Hong, Christie A. Canaria; drafting, review, and editing: Julie A. Hong, Martin Brechbiel, Jeff Buchsbaum, Christie A. Canaria, Freddy E. Escorcia, Michael Espey, Charles Kunos, Frank Lin, Deepa Narayanan, Jacek Capala.

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Correspondence to Jacek Capala.

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Hong, J.A., Brechbiel, M., Buchsbaum, J. et al. National Cancer Institute support for targeted alpha-emitter therapy. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 49, 64–72 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-021-05503-z

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