"Copper radionuclides are beneficial for several reasons," said Rodney J. Hicks, MBBS, MD, FRACP, FAHMS, professor in the Sir Peter MacCallum department of oncology at the University of Melbourne, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. "The strong binding of copper within the tumor allows for increased detection of disease, which can serve to limit radiation exposure to normal tissues during therapy. The ability to image at multiple time points with 64Cu-CuSarTate supports prospective dosimetry for therapeutic treatment planning with 67Cu-CuSarTATE, which could potentially offer shorter cycling of treatment, particularly for more aggressively growing tumors."

In terms of potential translation of the copper-64/67 theranostic pair to clinical studies, it is pertinent that copper-64 is produced in a cyclotron. The longer half-life of 64Cu-CuSarTATE as compared to 68Ga-DOTA-octreotate means that the tracer can be easily produced under good manufacturing practice conditions and transported regionally. 67Cu-CuSarTATE can be produced with linear-accelerators in high specific activity and radionuclide purity, so it is not reliant on nuclear reactors.


"Looking to the future of molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, the chemistry and general concepts presented in this study could be expanded to other peptides that target different receptors, as well as antibodies and engineered antibody fragments. This offers the potential to provide diagnostic imaging using copper-64 to plan individualized treatments with copper-67 agents for a wide range of cancer patients," noted Donnelly.


This study was made available online in May 2020 ahead of final publication in print in December 2020.

The authors of "Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy with 67Cu-CuSarTATE is Highly Efficacious Against a Somatostatin Positive Neuroendocrine Tumor Model," include Carleen Cullinane, Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Charmaine M. Jeffrey, Ellen M. van Dam and Matthew J. Harris, Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Eveleigh, New South Wales, Australia; Peter D. Roselt, Price Jackson and David Binns, Centre for Cancer Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Susan Jackson and Jessica van Zuylekom, Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Kevin Kuan, Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit, SAHMRI, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; Rodney J. Hicks, Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Centre for Cancer Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; and Paul S. Donnelly, School of Chemistry and Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

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