Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Winter;9(1):1-8.
doi: 10.22038/AOJNMB.2020.51714.1355.

RetroSPECT: Gallium-67 as a Long-Lived Imaging Agent for Theranostics

Dale L Bailey  1   2 , Dhanusha Sabanathan  3 , Alireza Aslani  1   2 , Douglas H Campbell  3 , Bradley J Walsh  3 , Nigel A Lengkeek  4
Affiliations

RetroSPECT: Gallium-67 as a Long-Lived Imaging Agent for Theranostics

Dale L Bailey et al. Asia Ocean J Nucl Med Biol. 2021 Winter.

Abstract

A limitation to the wider introduction of personalised dosimetry in theranostics is the relative paucity of imaging radionuclides with suitable physical and chemical properties to be paired with a long-lived therapeutic partner. As most of the beta-emitting therapeutic radionuclides emit gamma radiation as well they could potentially be used as the imaging radionuclide as well as the therapeutic radionuclide. However, the downsides are that the beta radiation will deliver a significant radiation dose as part of the treatment planning procedure, and the gamma radiation branching ratio is often quite low. Gallium-67 has been in use in nuclear medicine for over 50 years. However, the tremendous interest in gallium imaging in theranostics in recent times has focused on the PET radionuclide gallium-68. In this article it is suggested that the longer-lived gallium-67, which has desirable characteristics for imaging with the gamma camera and a suitably long half-life to match biological timescales for drug uptake and turnover, has been overlooked, in particular, for treatment planning with radionuclide therapy. Gallium-67 could also allow non-PET facilities to participate in theranostic imaging prior to treatment or for monitoring response after therapy. Gallium-67 could play a niche role in the future development of personalised medicine with theranostics.

Keywords: Gallium-67; Precision Medicine  A B S T R A C T; Theranostics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Time series of [67Ga] DOTA-Miltuximab® in one of the subjects recruited to the trial. Image quality is excellent at all imaging time point to Day +6 after injection. Only a very small amount of gallium-67 is seen in the urinary bladder or bowel. The amount of retained radioactivity (not corrected for decay) shown in the text under each image was measured for each time point based on the attenuation corrected total radioactivity and a camera-specific sensitivity factor
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hertz S, Roberts A. Radioactive iodine in the study of thyroid physiology; the use of radioactive iodine therapy in hyperthyroidism. J Am Med Assoc. 1946;131:81–6. - PubMed
    1. Langbein T, Weber WA, Eiber M. Future of Theranostics: An Outlook on Precision Oncology in Nuclear Medicine. J Nucl Med. 2019;60(Suppl 2):13S–9S. - PubMed
    1. Hicks RJ, Jackson P, Kong G, Ware RE, Hofman MS, Pattison DA, et al. (64)Cu-SARTATE PET Imaging of Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumors Demonstrates High Tumor Uptake and Retention, Potentially Allowing Prospective Dosimetry for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy. J Nucl Med. 2019;60(6):777–85. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bailey DL, Schembri GP, Willowson KP, Hedt A, Lengyelova E, Harris M. A Novel Theranostic Trial Design Using 64Cu/67Cu with Fully 3D Pre-Treatment Dosimetry. J Nucl Med. 2019;60(Suppl. 1):204 (Abstract).
    1. Edwards CL, Hayes RL. Tumor scanning with 67Ga citrate. J Nucl Med. 1969;10(2):103–5. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources