Researchers attached a radioactive particle to a molecule that binds a protein called PSMA, found on the surface of most prostate cancer cells, turning the cancer's own marker into a target for internal radiation delivered through the bloodstream.
In the VISION trial, researchers led by Oliver Sartor of Tulane randomly assigned 831 men with advanced, PSMA-positive prostate cancer to lutetium-177-PSMA-617 plus standard care or standard care alone. Median overall survival rose from 11.3 to 15.3 months, a 38 percent reduction in the risk of death.
It became the first PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy approved for prostate cancer, now sold as Pluvicto, but it requires nuclear medicine facilities many hospitals do not have, and common side effects included dry mouth and low blood counts. A later trial, PSMAfore, has since tested it earlier, before chemotherapy.
Read the original study
A tracer that doubled as a weapon.
Source
- Sartor, O., de Bono, J., Chi, K. N., Fizazi, K., Herrmann, K., Rahbar, K., Tagawa, S. T., Nordquist, L. T., Vaishampayan, N., El-Haddad, G., Park, C. H., Beer, T. M., Armour, A., Pérez-Contreras, W. J., DeSilvio, M., Kpamegan, E., Gericke, G., Messmann, R. A., Morris, M. J., . . . VISION Investigators (2021). Lutetium-177-PSMA-617 for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 385(12), 1091–1103. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2107322