(223)Ra and other bone-targeting radiopharmaceuticals-the translation of radiation biology into clinical practice

P G Turner, J M O'Sullivan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Osseous metastases are a source of significant morbidity for patients with a variety of cancers. Radiotherapy is well established as an effective means of palliating symptoms associated with such metastases. The role of external beam radiotherapy is limited where sites of metastases are numerous and widespread. Low linear energy transfer (LET) radionuclides have been utilized to allow targeted delivery of radiotherapy to disparate sites of disease, with evidence of palliative benefit. More recently, the bone targeting, high LET radionuclide (223)Ra has been shown to not only have a palliative effect but also a survival prolonging effect in metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer with bone metastases. This article reviews the different radionuclide-based approaches for targeting bone metastases, with an emphasis on (223)Ra, and key elements of the underlying radiobiology of these that will impact their clinical effectiveness. Consideration is given to the remaining unknowns of both the basic radiobiological and applied clinical effects of (223)Ra as targets for future research.

Original languageEnglish
Article number20140752
Number of pages9
JournalBritish Journal of Radiology
Volume88
Issue number1050
Early online date30 Apr 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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