Targeted alpha therapy offers new hope for treating metastatic melanoma
Source: News Medical Life Sciences, March 2025
Metastatic melanoma, also known as stage IV melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that spreads to other parts of the body. It is one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer, with current therapies—including immunotherapy and targeted drugs—showing limited effectiveness. Radiotherapy is an emerging treatment for melanoma, but conventional beta-emitting radionuclide therapies have limitations due to their low energy transfer and long-range radiation, which can cause unintended damage to healthy tissues.
To enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy, a research team from Japan, led by Assistant Professor Hiroyuki Suzuki from Chiba University, including Dr. Tomoya Uehara from Chiba University, Dr. Noriko S. Ishioka from National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Dr. Hiroshi Tanaka from Juntendo University, Dr. Tadashi Watabe from Osaka University, adopted targeted alpha therapy (TAT) as a promising alternative to conventional beta therapy. They developed an astatine-211 (211At)-labeled peptide drug that could offer a potential breakthrough for treating metastatic melanoma. The research was conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology and was published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging on January 20, 2025.
TAT is a form of radiotherapy that involves drugs labeled with alpha particle-emitting radioisotopes. Compared to other forms of radioactive emissions (beta and gamma emissions), alpha particles are heavier and therefore have a short range. Owing to their greater mass, alpha particles also carry relatively higher energy, which is beneficial for the disruption of cancer cells.