Home | News | Compounds that visualise and treat cancer at the same time are proving to be effective in experimental models of triple-negative breast cancer

Nuclear Medicine and Biology. Compounds that visualise and treat cancer at the same time are proving to be effective in experimental models of triple-negative breast cancer

10.04.2025

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Francisca Mulero and Jorge Martínez Torrecuadrada / CNIO

Researchers from the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have designed a ‘theragnostic’ drug, which is used in the most sensitive medical imaging technique available (PET) and also, with minimal modification, to precisely eliminate cancer cells.

It is equivalent to applying radiation therapy within the body, specifically targeted where it is desired.

The journal 'Nuclear Medicine and Biology' considers it the best research paper published in 2024.

The motto We see what we treat, we treat what we see sums them up well. They are theragnostic drugs, which eliminate the tumour after it is identified and therefore have both therapeutic and diagnostic value. They function as a very specific type of internal radiation therapy: instead of removing the tumour by irradiating from outside – exposing much of the body -, lethal radiation is guided through the body directly to the tumour cells. The strategy is already used to treat some types of tumour and is a growing area of research. 

At the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), researchers Francisca Mulero and Jorge Martínez Torrecuadrada have just demonstrated the efficacy in animal models of a theragnostic compound against triple negative breast cancer, a tumour that still has few treatment options. Their research, conducted in collaboration with groups from UGR, CIB-CSIC and CIEMAT, has been selected as the best paper published in the journal Nuclear Medicine and Biology in 2024.

ImmunoPET image of cancer patient (left); illustration with antibodies targeting the radioactive isotope to tumor cells (center); and patient in which tumor cells have been eliminated. /CNIO. (This image is not part of the study)

“In theragnosis, diagnosis and therapy involve the same molecule, specifically directed towards a tumour target,” explains Mulero, head of the CNIO Molecular Imaging Unit. “It is used in nuclear medicine as a precision therapy to detect, treat and monitor cancer. It is equivalent to applying internal radiation therapy, within the body, specifically targeted to the desired location.”

Theragnosis has evolved from one of the most sensitive and specific medical imaging techniques, ImmunoPET. In an ImmunoPET scan, a radioactive compound is injected into the patient that is bound to antibodies produced in the laboratory, specially designed to recognise and bind to the desired target proteins in each case. The injected radioactive compound can thus be directed by the antibodies to the tumour cells, so that an image of the tumour can be visualised.

In theragnostic drugs, another isotope is added to the guide antibody with another type of radiation that is lethal to tumour cells. The result is a compound that both visualises and treats the tumour.

“We use antibodies to direct therapy very specifically where we want it. In our case, we have used a target protein, MT1-MMP, which is expressed in the most aggressive tumours with a tendency to metastasise,” explains Jorge Martínez Torrecuadrada, head of the Protein Production Unit at CNIO.

The next step in the work of these CNIO researchers is to “optimise the constructions of both the antibody and the radioactive tagging.” After that, safety, toxicity and biodistribution studies will be needed before moving on to the clinical trial phase.

The CNIO is a public research center under the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. This study has been financed with funds from the BBVA Foundation, the Community of Madrid and the Spanish public science system.

Reference article

Magro N, Oteo M, Romero E, Ibáñez-Moragues M, Luján VM, Martínez L, Vela O, López-Melero ME, Arroyo AG, Garaulet G, Martínez-Torrecuadrada JL, Mulero F, Morcillo MA. (2024). Target engagement of an anti-MT1-MMP antibody for triple-negative breast cancer PET imaging and beta therapy. Nucl Med Biol 136-137, 108930-.

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