Human Absorbed Dose Evaluation of [177Lu]Lu-IBA as a Bone Palliative Candidate

The role of lutetium-177 among bone-seeking radionuclides in targeted therapy is noteworthy. The clinical pharmacokinetics of ibandronate (IBA) indicates that this bisphonate has powerful bone mineral affinity. The aim of this study was to evaluate of [177Lu]Lu-IBA efficacy as a new compound.The [177Lu]Lu-IBA was prepared by radiolabeling of IBA ligand to 177LuCl3 that was obtained by thermal neutron irradiation of enriched Lu2O3 sample. Produced [177Lu]Lu-IBA with high radiochemical purity was administered intravenously to mice. Biodistribution data were collected at 1, 4, 24, 48 h and 7 d post injections. With calculating accumulated activities in each organ and extrapolating mouse’s organs to human’s organs by the RADAR method and using OLINDA/EXM software the injected dose in various human organs was achieved.[177Lu]Lu-IBA was produced with radiochemical purity nearly 96 %. Its biodistribution data showed the high uptake and durability in the skeletal tissues without significant uptake in other major organs.The results showed that [177Lu]Lu-IBA has considerably good properties as a bone-seeking radiopharmaceutical and therefore can be a candidate for bone pain palliative therapy in skeletal metastases; however, further biological studies are still needed.

Nanometer-Sized Boron Loaded Liposomes Containing Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles and Tributyl Borate and Anti-Albumin from Bovine Serum Antibody for Thermal Neutron Detection

A shortage in the supply of 3He used for thermal neutron detector makes researchers to find 3He alternatives for developing new neutron detectors. Here, we prepared a neutron-sensitive composite liposome with tributyl borate and encapsulating with Fe3O4@oleic acid nanoparticles (Fe3O4@OA NPs), methylene blue (MB), or anti-albumin from bovine serum (anti-BSA). The tributyl borate compound was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). In addition, the morphology, element compositions, and magnetic properties of the composite liposome were investigated with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. The results indicated that a typical ellipsoidal magnetic liposome structure was obtained, and the lengths of the minor axis and major axis were 49 ± 1 nm and 87 ± 3 nm, respectively. Under thermal neutron irradiation, the structure of composite liposome was destroyed, and encapsulated reporter molecules were released, which was detected by ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology. The response of this sensor based on a destructive assay shows a good correlation with neutron doses. Besides, the sensor has a neutron to gamma-ray rejection ratio of 1568 at a thermal neutron flux rate of 135.6 n/cm2·s, which makes it a promising alternative to 3He.

Synthesis and Characterization of New Lithium and Boron Based Metal Organic Frameworks with NLO Properties for Application in Neutron Capture Therapy

In this work, we synthetized and characterized new crystalline materials with theranostic properties, i.e., they can be used both as bio-sensors and for “drug delivery”. The two solid crystalline compounds studied are Metal Organic Frameworks and have formulas Li[(C6H12O6)2B]·2H2O and Li[(C4H2O6)2B]·5.5H2O. They can be synthetized both with natural isotopes of Li and B or with 6Li and 10B isotopes, that can be explored for Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT) for anti-cancer treatment. The presence of chiral organic molecules, such as mannitol and tartaric acid, provides the NLO property to the crystals and thus their capability to generate the Second Harmonic, which is useful for applications as bio-sensors. The two compounds were characterized with X-ray Diffraction and the Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) responses were estimated by theoretical calculations, and the results were compared with experimental measurements of powdered samples. In order to test the behavior of such compounds under thermal neutron irradiation, we preliminary exposed one of the two compounds in the e_LiBANS facility at the Torino Physics Department. Preliminary results are reported.