Scientists at Texas A&M University have unlocked a new way that involves leveraging the rarest natural element, astatine-211, to kill cancer cells. This form of radiotherapy eliminates malignant cells while leaving the healthy tissues surrounding the cancer unaffected.
One of the biggest challenges that have plagued conventional cancer therapies like chemotherapy and radiotherapy is that the treatments are indiscriminate and impact both cancerous tissues and healthy cells. As a result, these treatments cause side effects that can often be very serious or even life-threatening. The use of astatine-211 promises to address this drawback of existing radiotherapy approaches.
Astatine (a Greek word meaning “unstable”) exists for a very short time in its natural state. This fleeting existence has prevented sufficient study of the element as is the case with others in the periodic table. However, the Texas A&M team has come up with a mechanism to not only produce this extremely rare element but also to isolate it and ship it safely.
The isotope has a half-life of only 7.2 hours, and that short lifespan holds the key to revolutionizing cancer therapy. As the element decays, it releases powerful bursts of energy within its surroundings. The radiation that occurs delivers a powerful punch against tumor cells, killing them. Because the isotope can only travel a short distance before it begins breaking down, the energy it releases only impacts the tissues within its immediate surroundings. In this way, the element can be delivered close to or within a tumor so that its decay releases energy that kills the cancer cells and leaves healthy tissue unaffected.
The short lifespan of this rare element also means that the radioactive nature of the energy it releases is short-lived, so the use of astatine-211 doesn’t have the same toxic after-effects as other elements currently used in radiotherapy.
With the help of the U.S. Department of Energy and other collaborators, the Texas A&M team has succeeded in developing a method to produce this element in quantities that are sufficient enough to serve therapeutic purposes. Their innovation has addressed the limitation posed by the isotope not occurring naturally in large amounts that can be accessed and studied or used for different purposes.
Their novel technology involves using a resin column, and the team has applied for a patent for their automated system. Clinical trials testing the use of astatine-211 as a radiotherapy modality are ongoing and their success could take radiopharmaceuticals to a whole new level.
Meanwhile, other approaches, such as immunotherapy, to target cancer cells are also notching important successes in combating different forms of malignancies. Companies like Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE American: CLDI) are at the forefront of some cutting-edge developments in this field, such as the use of oncolytic viruses to boost the body’s ability to identify and kill cancer cells.
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