Abstract
The concept of nanoparticle-mediated radionuclide delivery in the cancer treatment has been widely discussed in the past decade. In particular, the use of inorganic and organic nanostructures in the development of radiopharmaceuticals enables the delivery of medically important radioisotopes for radionuclide therapy. In this review, we present the development of nanostructures for cancer therapy with Auger electron radionuclides. Following that, different types of nanoconstructs that can be used as carriers for Auger electron emitters, design principles, nanoparticle materials, and target vectors that overcame the main difficulties are described. In addition, systems in which high-Z element nanoparticles are used as radionuclide carriers, causing the emission of photoelectrons from the nanoparticle surface, are presented. Finally, future research opportunities in the field are discussed as well as issues that must be addressed before nanoparticle-based Auger electron radionuclide therapy can be transferred to clinical use.
Highlights
Cancer has been one of the main causes of death worldwide during the past decade
These methods include targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) in which cancer cells are killed by corpuscular radiation emitted by radionuclides conjugated to biological vectors, such as peptides, monoclonal antibodies, their fragments, or other small biologically active molecules
Another approach to increase specific activity and optimize the efficacy of Auger electron targeted radionuclide therapy is to develop nanostructure-based delivery systems with many chelators attached to polymers, dendrimers, or inorganic nanoparticles working as carrier molecules
Summary
Cancer has been one of the main causes of death worldwide during the past decade. Surgery, external radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are still the major and first-line treatments in oncology used for malignant tumors. In the case of aggressive and proliferative cancers, in which metastatic sites are frequently spread throughout the whole body, chemotherapy is usually the main and only applicable therapy. The low tumor specificity of cytotoxic drugs causes damage to surrounding healthy cells. It is necessary to search for new, less toxic, and more effective drug therapies designed to kill tumor cells . Current studies are focused on the development of new approaches to treat cancer cells selectively, without affecting the healthy tissues. These methods include targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) in which cancer cells are killed by corpuscular radiation (electrons or α particles) emitted by radionuclides conjugated to biological vectors, such as peptides, monoclonal antibodies, their fragments, or other small biologically active molecules. In the case of solid tumors, targeting agents labeled with radionuclides are concentrated within the tumor, while a small dose of radiation is deposited into surrounding normal tissues
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