Project
Development and preclinical evaluation of diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals targeting CXCR4
Increased understanding of the pivotal role of chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in tumor biology has resulted in the development of radiopharmaceuticals that can provide sensitive detection of CXCR4 expression and allow patient selection for CXCR4-targeted therapies. [68Ga]Pentixafor is the only CXCR4-targeted imaging agent that has found broad clinical applicability so far. However, due to the low production capacity, implementation of [68Ga]Pentixafor in clinical practice is still limited. Further, results with the therapeutic companion radiopharmaceutical [177Lu]Pentixather are promising, but there is still room for improvement regarding pharmacokinetics and dosimetry profile. Moreover, an CXCR4-targeted radiopharmaceutical labeled with an α-emitter might present a breakthrough in therapy of various CXCR4 expressing tumors such as multiple myeloma. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop innovative CXCR4 radiopharmaceuticals, both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, starting from all D-amino acid peptide vector molecules that have not been explored yet for nuclear medicine applications.