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Review
. 2023 Jun 26;16(7):929.
doi: 10.3390/ph16070929.

Lights and Shadows on the Sourcing of Silver Radioisotopes for Targeted Imaging and Therapy of Cancer: Production Routes and Separation Methods

Marianna Tosato  1 , Mattia Asti  1
Affiliations
Review

Lights and Shadows on the Sourcing of Silver Radioisotopes for Targeted Imaging and Therapy of Cancer: Production Routes and Separation Methods

Marianna Tosato et al. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). .

Abstract

The interest in silver radioisotopes of medical appeal (silver-103, silver-104m,g and silver-111) has been recently awakened by the versatile nature of their nuclear decays, which combine emissions potentially suitable for non-invasive imaging with emissions suited for cancer treatment. However, to trigger their in vivo application, the production of silver radioisotopes in adequate amounts, and with high radionuclidic purity and molar activity, is a key prerequisite. This review examines the different production routes of silver-111, silver-103 and silver-104m,g providing a comprehensive critical overview of the separation and purification strategies developed so far. Aspects of quality (radiochemical, chemical and radionuclidic purity) are also emphasized and compared with the aim of pushing towards the future implementation of this theranostic triplet in preclinical and clinical contexts.

Keywords: cancer; radioisotopes; silver; theranostic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 9
Figure 9
Graphical illustration of liquid/liquid extraction processes for the separation of 111Ag from Pd targets [13,29,30]. Image created with BioRender.com.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Separation of 111Ag from proton-irradiated Th target according to method 1 [1]. Image created with BioRender.com.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental cross-sections of deuteron-induced natPd(d,x)105Ag, 106mAg, 110mAg and 111Ag reactions, as derived from (A) Ditroi et al. and (B) from Ukon et al. [4,17].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Experimental cross-sections of deuteron-induced 110Pd(d,n)111Ag and 110Pd(d,2n)110mAg reactions, as derived from Hermanne et al. [3].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Experimental cross-sections of the α-induced reactions natPd(α,pxn)105Ag, 106mAg, 110mAg, 111Ag and 112Ag, as derived from Hermanne et al. [18].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Experimental cross-sections of the proton-induced reactions, 232Th(p,f)111Ag and 232Th(p,f)110mAg, as derived from Mastren et al. [1].
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A) Experimental cross-sections of proton-induced natPd(p,xn)103Ag and deuteron-induced natPd(d,xn)103Ag reaction, as derived from Hermanne et al. and Ukon et al. [4,19]. (B) Experimental cross-sections of natPd(d,xn)104m,gAg and natPd(p,xn)104m,gAg reactions, as derived from Hermanne et al. [3].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Experimental cross-section of α-induced natPd(α,pxn)103Ag and 104m,gAg, reactions as derived from Hermanne et al. [18].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Experimental independent cross-sections for the natPd(d,x)104gAg and natPd(d,x)104mAg reactions, as derived from Ukon et al. [4].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Schematic illustration of (A) cation-exchange-based and (B) anion-exchange-based chromatographic separation methods of 111Ag from irradiated Pd targets [9,10,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. Image created with BioRender.com.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Schematic representations of precipitation-based processes for the separation of 111Ag from Pd targets proposed by (A) Collin et al., (B) Sicilio et al., (C) Zimen et al. and (D) Blackadar et al. [8,31,32,33]. Image created with BioRender.com.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Separation of 111Ag from proton-irradiate Th target according to method 2 [1]. Image created with BioRender.com.
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