44 years of radioisotope production at MURR

Orateur : Cathy CUTLER (Research Reactor (MURR), Univ. of Missouri, Columbia)

The University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) supports a broad and diverse utilization, including medical related research and applications. MURR has maintained an important role as a supplier of radioisotopes for life sciences research with a focus in nuclear medicine, beginning in the late 1960s with the production of 99mTc and broadening into supply of other radioisotopes along with dedicated R&D efforts into their applications. MURR produces 192Ir brachytherapy sources for treatment of isolated solid tumors, such as those in the breast. MURR was instrumental in the development of 90Y TheraSphereTM, in which glass microspheres containing Y are activated to produce 90Y and then injected into the blood supply of liver tumors, supplying very high radiation doses to tumor with minimal side effects. MURR was instrumental in the development of bone pain palliation agents such as 186Re HEDP and 153Sm QuadrametTM. New applications for QuadrametTM including combination treatments for prostate cancer, breast cancer and multiple myeloma have demonstrated reduced metastases and increased survival. The high neutron fluxes achievable at MURR enable the production of a number of research isotopes such as 186Re, 105Rh, 198Au, etc. in specific activities that are high enough for labeling antibodies and polypeptides for targeted radiotherapy. These isotopes are being supplied by MURR for clinical trials throughout the world. Recently MURR demonstrated the feasibility to produce from LEU irradiation enough 99Mo to cover 50% of the US market for diagnostic imaging.

Télécharger dans mon agenda