Contact

Dr. habil. Constantin Mamat

Research Associate
Medical Radiochemistry
c.mamatAthzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 2805
+49 351 260 2313

Dr. Sven Stadlbauer

Head Medicinal Radiochemistry
s.stadlbauerAthzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 3249

Development of a theranostic concept for radioconjugates based on actinium-225 for oncological applications

"Alpha-emitting Radionuclides: Current Status and Future Perspectives" M. Miederer, M. Benešová-Schäfer, C. Mamat, D. Kästner, M. Pretze, E. Michler, C. Brogsitter, J. Kotzerke, K. Kopka, D. A. Scheinberg, M. R. McDevitt, Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17, 76.

"Preparation of HOPO-containing lariate ethers based on the diaza-18-crown-6 scaffolds" F. Paßler, L. Belke, F. Reissig, K. Kopka, C. Mamat, Chem. Papers 2024, 78, 4157.

Therapeutic Alpha Emitters

Establishment of Alpha-emitting Radionuclides for Radiotherapeutics

AlphaTherapy

Alpha-particle-emitting radionuclides are of high impact and interest for targeted radiotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Alpha particles are effective at killing cells due to their high linear energy transfer - LET (i.e. numerous, high-energy ionizations over a short path length in tissue), which results in a high relative biological effectiveness (RBE) which results in unrepairable DNA double-strand breaks that trigger cell death. Radium has two isotopes of interest for radiotherapy applications, Ra-223 (t1/2 = 11.5 d) and Ra-224 (t1/2 = 3.63 d). Both isotopes exhibit four α-decays and two β--decays in their decay chains with total emitted energies of 28 and 27 MeV, respectively. Additionally, Radium-223 is clinically approved by the EMA (European Medicines Agency) and FDA (Food & Drug Administration) as the free radium chloride to treat bone metastases.

The challenge consists of the stable binding/complexation of radium (the heaviest group 2 element) and is inevitable to create radiotherapeutics. A release in vitro and in vivo should be avoided with this stable inclusion of the radium. Otherwise, bone uptake will occur. Two strategies were developed: the first consists of the complexation of Ra2+ with functionalized calix[4]arenes. Calixarenes, in general, as well as aza-crown ethers demonstrate good complexation of the group 2 elements. Barium is in use as a surrogate for radium to determine complexation stability and other properties. The second strategy involved the inclusion of the Ba2+/ Ra2+ into nanoparticle structures based on barium sulfate or with polyoxopalladate structures.

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New Labeling Strategies Using Staudinger Ligation and Click Chemistry

Click-Chemistry

Bioorthogonal labeling reactions are important tools especially for the mild labeling of macromolecules (e.g. peptides, proteins, and antibodies) and reacting in aqueous environment. Due to the multitude of functional groups on these biomacromolecules, selective labeling reactions have to be developed to connect organic radionuclides ( e.g. fluorine-18) as well as radiometals (e.g. technetium-99m, rhenium-186/-188, and radium-223/-224) to these molecules without losing their biological/pharmacological impact. Labeling strategies based on the traceless Staudinger Ligation were developed to allow a site-selective labeling of azide- and alkyne-functionalized bio(macro)molecules.

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Investigations of Chelating Ligands for Radiometals

Web-NMR

Understanding the conformation of ligands and their complexes in terms of their (radio)chemical behavior is an important requirement to create stable complexes. For this purpose, two NMR devices (400 MHz and 600 MHz, Agilent Technologies) with ProbeOne and one in the control area (400 MHz, Varian) are available. Additionally, NMR techniques are in use to determine complexation constants for e. g. barium complexes (as a surrogate for radium). This work supports the development of a stable radium complex for targeted radiotherapy.

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