Published online Dec 26, 2013. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v3.i4.45
Revised: October 3, 2013
Accepted: October 18, 2013
Published online: December 26, 2013
Translational medicine pursues the conversion of scientific discovery into human health improvement. It aims to establish strategies for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Cancer treatment is difficult. Radio-pharmaceutical research has played an important role in multiple disciplines, particularly in translational oncology. Based on the natural phenomenon of necrosis avidity, OncoCiDia has emerged as a novel generic approach for treating solid malignancies. Under this systemic dual targeting strategy, a vascular disrupting agent first selectively causes massive tumor necrosis that is followed by iodine-131 labeled-hypericin (123I-Hyp), a necrosis-avid compound that kills the residual cancer cells by crossfire effect of beta radiation. In this review, by emphasizing the potential clinical applicability of OncoCiDia, we summarize our research activities including optimization of radioiodinated hypericin Hyp preparations and recent studies on the biodistribution, dosimetry, pharmacokinetic and, chemical and radiochemical toxicities of the preparations. Myocardial infarction is a global health problem. Although cardiac scintigraphy using radioactive perfusion tracers is used in the assessment of myocardial viability, searching for diagnostic imaging agents with authentic necrosis avidity is pursued. Therefore, a comparative study on the biological profiles of the necrosis avid 123I-Hyp and the commercially available 99mTc-Sestamibi was conducted and the results are demonstrated. Cholelithiasis or gallstone disease may cause gallbladder inflammation, infection and other severe complications. While studying the mechanisms underlying the necrosis avidity of Hyp and derivatives, their naturally occurring fluorophore property was exploited for targeting cholesterol as a main component of gallstones. The usefulness of Hyp as an optical imaging agent for cholelithiasis was studied and the results are presented. Multiple uses of automatic contrast injectors may reduce costs and save resources. However, cross-contaminations with blood-borne pathogens of infectious diseases may occur. We developed a radioactive method for safety evaluation of a new replaceable patient-delivery system. By mimicking pathogens with a radiotracer, we assessed the feasibility of using the system repeatedly without septic risks. This overview is deemed to be interesting to those involved in the related fields for translational research.
Core tip: Translational medicine converts scientific discovery into clinical applications. Radiopharmacy has played a multidisciplinary role. Based on unique necrosis avidity, OncoCiDia presents a generic approach for management of cancers, on which recent results on its optimization are summarized. Myocardial infarction is a clinical problem. A comparative study between infarct avid iodine-131 labeled-hypericin and commercial 99mTc-Sestamibi is presented. Cholelithiasis may cause biliary complications. The usefulness of Hyp as an optical imaging agent for cholelithiasis is demonstrated. Multiple uses of automatic contrast injectors may reduce costs but can cause cross-contaminations. We developed a radioactive method for safety evaluation of a new replaceable patient-delivery system.