13
A
New Class of Trimetasphere Based Radiopharmaceuticals--Luna
Innovations, Inc., 2851 Commerce Street, Blacksburg, VA
24060-6657; 540-953-4274, www.lunainnovations.com
Dr.
Harry C. Dorn, Principal Investigator,
Ms.
Garnett S. Linkous, Business Official,
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER83698
Amount:
$99,991
In
nuclear medicine, commonly employed radiopharmaceuticals generally utilize
chelated radioisotopes of metals for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
However, the in vivo kinetic
stability of radiometal agents remains a major concern for any new
radiopharmaceutical. Endohedral
metallofullerenes would have an inherent advantage due to the high stability of
the carbon cage and characteristic resistance to any metabolic cage-opening
process. In this project, a lutetium
member of a new class of highly stable endohedral metallofullerenes, lutetium
trimetaspheres, will be functionalized and neutron activated.
Yields, cross-sections, and decay products will be determined.
The advantage of these new materials over existing radiopharmaceuticals
is the ability to capture three active atoms within the carbon cage, where they
are sequestered from the surrounding organic matrix.
Phase I will synthesize and purify a quantity of lutetium trimetaspheres,
functionalize them with appropriate ligands, and have them neutron activated at
a national laboratory. This will
allow verification of the activation cross sections and qualification of yields
and decay products.
Commercial Applications and Other
Benefits
as described by the awardee: Lutetium
trimetasphere radiopharmaceuticals should be more potent and more targetable
than other chelated lutetium agents due to their unique nanostructure.
Such a product would represent a significant improvement in treatment,
with a concomitant reduction of mortality.