Production of actinium-225 for alpha particle mediated radioimmunotherapy

Appl Radiat Isot. 2005 May;62(5):667-79. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2004.12.003. Epub 2005 Jan 28.

Abstract

The initial clinical trials for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia have demonstrated the effectiveness of the alpha emitter (213)Bi in killing cancer cells. Bismuth-213 is obtained from a radionuclide generator system from decay of 10-days (225)Ac parent. Recent pre-clinical studies have also shown the potential application of both (213)Bi, and the (225)Ac parent radionuclide in a variety of cancer systems and targeted radiotherapy. This paper describes our five years of experience in production of (225)Ac in partial support of the on-going clinical trials. A four-step chemical process, consisting of both anion and cation exchange chromatography, is utilized for routine separation of carrier-free (225)Ac from a mixture of (228)Th, (229)Th and (232)Th. The separation of Ra and Ac from Th is achieved using the marcoporous anion exchange resin MP1 in 8M HNO(3) media. Two sequential MP1/NO(3) columns provide a separation factor of approximately 10(6) for Ra and Ac from Th. The separation of Ac from Ra is accomplished on a low cross-linking cation exchange resin AG50-X4 using 1.2M HNO(3) as eluant. Two sequential AG50/NO(3) columns provide a separation factor of approximately 10(2) for Ac from Ra. A 60-day processing schedule has been adopted in order to reduce the processing cost and to provide the highest levels of (225)Ac possible. Over an 8-week campaign, a total of approximately 100 mCi of (225)Ac (approximately 80% of the theoretical yield) is shipped in 5-6 batches, with the first batch typically consisting of approximately 50 mCi. After the initial separation and purification of Ac, the Ra pool is re-processed on a bi-weekly schedule or as needed to provide smaller batches of (225)Ac. The averaged radioisotopic purity of the (225)Ac was 99.6 +/- 0.7% with a (225)Ra content of < or =0.6%, and an average (229)Th content of (4(-4)(+5)) x 10(-5)%.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Actinium / chemistry*
  • Actinium / therapeutic use
  • Alpha Particles*
  • Chromatography, Ion Exchange
  • Humans
  • Leukemia, Myeloid / radiotherapy*
  • Radioimmunotherapy*

Substances

  • Actinium