Targeted radionuclide therapies for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic malignancies, the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths, have an aggressive behavior with poor prognosis, resulting in a 5-year survival rate of only 4%. It is typically a silent malignancy until patients develop metastatic disease. Targeted radionuclide therapies of cancer such as radiolabeled peptides, which bind to the receptors overexpressed by cancer cells and radiolabeled antibodies to tumor-specific antigens provide a viable alternative to chemotherapy and external beam radiation of metastatic cancers. Multiple clinical trials of targeted radionuclide therapy of pancreatic cancer have been performed in the last decade and demonstrated safety and potential efficacy of radionuclide therapy for treatment of this formidable disease. Although a lot of progress has been made in treatment of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors with radiolabeled 90Y and 177Lu somatostatin peptide analogs, pancreatic adenocarcinomas remain a major challenge. Novel approaches such as peptides and antibodies radiolabeled with alpha emitters, pre-targeting, bispecific antibodies and biological therapy based on the radioactive tumorlytic bacteria might offer a potential breakthrough in treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinomas.