165Er: A new candidate for Auger electron therapy and its possible cyclotron production from natural holmium targets

Nadezda Gracheva; Tommaso Stefano Carzaniga; Roger Schibli; Saverio Braccini; Nicholas P van der Meulen

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109079

¹⁶⁵Er: A new candidate for Auger electron therapy and its possible cyclotron production from natural holmium targets

Appl Radiat Isot. 2020 May:159:109079. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109079. Epub 2020 Feb 12.

Authors

Nadezda Gracheva¹, Tommaso Stefano Carzaniga², Roger Schibli³, Saverio Braccini², Nicholas P van der Meulen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland.
² Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics (AEC), Laboratory for High Energy Physics (LHEP), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
³ Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland. Electronic address: nick.vandermeulen@psi.ch.

PMID: 32068146
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109079

Abstract

¹⁶⁵Er, a pure Auger-electron emitter, could be an attractive candidate for targeted radionuclide therapy. Auger electrons possess short penetration paths with high linear energy transfer. In this study, experimental cross-sections of the ¹⁶⁵Ho(p, n)¹⁶⁵Er nuclear reaction were measured and targets irradiated with protons using Injector II cyclotron at Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) and the 18 MeV medical cyclotron laboratory at the University Hospital in Bern. A purification method was developed in order to obtain ¹⁶⁵Er suitable for in vivo applications.

Keywords: (165)Er; Auger electrons; Chemical separation; Cross-section; Cyclotron.