Talk Title:
Radiotheranostics… A Pyrrhic Victory or a Trojan Conquest

Talk Summary:

Radiotheranostics are a unique type of cancer drugs which enable simultaneous imaging and therapy. Theranostics can be used to visually assess the biodistribution of the radiopharmaceutical and for the selection of patients to receive the therapeutic drug. This concept can be best explained as ” treating what you see and seeing what you treat”.

Therefore, theranostics play a crucial role in reducing the risks of failure in drug development by enabling the visualization and quantification of both the presence and engagement of the target. The past and current clinical successes in areas such as neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer are evidence of the potential of theranostics. However, challenges remain in effectively deploying new agents and tapping into their future potential and emerging opportunities.

One of the major challenges in this field is the relatively short duration of treatment response. Numerous innovative approaches to enhance the effectiveness and tolerability of radiotheranostics have been suggested, with the utilization of alpha emitters showing particular promise in circumventing the inherent radioresistance of cancer cells. A crucial aspect involves tailoring treatments to each individual based on precise dosimetric calculations for both the tumor and non-involved organs, along with determining the tissue’s sensitivity to radiation.

Presenter Biography:
Dr. Lisa Bodei is an Attending Physician and Director of Targeted Radionuclide Therapy in the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Dr. Bodei graduated from the Medical University of Pisa and earned her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995 and remained at Pisa University as a Resident in Nuclear Medicine at the School of Specialization until 1999. In 2009, Dr. Bodei was awarded a PhD (magna cum laude) from the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, for her work in peptide receptor radionuclide therapy using somatostatin analogues. Dr. Bodei’s main research interests are in theranostics, particularly peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with somatostatin, bombesin, and PSMA analogues for diagnosis and therapy, and translational research applied to radiopeptide therapy of neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Bodei has authored more than180 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and published eight invited book chapters. She currently serves as the associate editor of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, section editor for Molecular Imaging and Therapy of Clinical Imaging on the editorial boards of several scientific journals including the Journal of Nuclear Medicine and the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. Dr. Bodei has given numerous lectures at national meetings in Europe and international meetings in the US and Europe. She has served on many committees both as a participant and at an executive level.