The radioactive element terbium might contribute to an effective therapy against lymphoma, Swiss researchers have reported.
The developers say that terbium can be targeted directly onto lymphoma cells, using an antibody directed to the CD30 receptor as a target. This might work for about a third of patients, where the CD30 receptor appears on tumour cells, they say.
They propose the use of terbium as its radiation has a range of less than a micrometre – about the same size as a tumour cell.
Terbium has a half-life of 6.9 days, which the researchers say is ideal for a cancer treatment.
The treatment, developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Würenlingen, Switzerland, involves terbium-161 and an antibody against the CD30 receptor. It has been tested in laboratory conditions on three types of cancer that produce CD30 receptors, and was shown to be more effective at killing cancer cells compared to a similar treatment with the ‘gold-standard’ radionuclide, lutetium-177. Studies on mice showed that some mice treated with terbium-161 antibodies ended up completely cancer free.
The research has been published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The treatment needs further development before it can be tested in humans in clinical trials, but the researchers are optimistic.
Researcher Elisa Rioja-Blanco, from the Institute’s Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, said: “Our results are a good indication that the substance could also prove to be effective against lymphoma in humans.
“Terbium-161 fires more precise bullets, so to speak. We can also catch small tumour foci that doctors may not even be aware of at the time.”
Source:
Rioja-Blanco E, Banz Y, Schlapbach C, Novak U, Chiorazzo T, Bertschi NL, Bernhardt P, Grundler PV, van der Meulen NP, Grzmil M, Schibli R, Behe M (2025) “Terbium-161 radioimmunotherapy as a novel treatment for CD30+ lymphomas.” Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2 June 2025, doi: 10.2967/jnumed.124.268805
Link: https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/66/6/909
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