Membrane and Nuclear Absorbed Doses from 177Lu and 161Tb in Tumor Clusters: Effect of Cellular Heterogeneity and Potential Benefit of Dual Targeting-A Monte Carlo Study

Abstract

Early use of targeted radionuclide therapy to eradicate tumor cell clusters and micrometastases might offer cure. However, there is a need to select appropriate radionuclides and assess the potential impact of heterogeneous targeting. Methods: The Monte Carlo code CELLDOSE was used to assess membrane and nuclear absorbed doses from ¹⁷⁷Lu and ¹⁶¹Tb (β^--emitter with additional conversion and Auger electrons) in a cluster of 19 cells (14-μm diameter, 10-μm nucleus). The radionuclide distributions considered were cell surface, intracytoplasmic, or intranuclear, with 1,436 MeV released per labeled cell. To model heterogeneous targeting, 4 of the 19 cells were unlabeled, their position being stochastically determined. We simulated situations of single targeting, as well as dual targeting, with the 2 radiopharmaceuticals aiming at different targets. Results: ¹⁶¹Tb delivered 2- to 6-fold higher absorbed doses to cell membranes and 2- to 3-fold higher nuclear doses than ¹⁷⁷Lu. When all 19 cells were targeted, membrane and nuclear absorbed doses were dependent mainly on radionuclide location. With cell surface location, membrane absorbed doses were substantially higher than nuclear absorbed doses, both with ¹⁷⁷Lu (38-41 vs. 4.7-7.2 Gy) and with ¹⁶¹Tb (237-244 vs. 9.8-15.1 Gy). However, when 4 cells were not targeted by the cell surface radiopharmaceutical, the membranes of these cells received on average only 9.6% of the ¹⁷⁷Lu absorbed dose and 2.9% of the ¹⁶¹Tb dose, compared with a cluster with uniform cell targeting, whereas the impact on nuclear absorbed doses was moderate. With an intranuclear radionuclide location, the nuclei of unlabeled cells received only 17% of the ¹⁷⁷Lu absorbed dose and 10.8% of the ¹⁶¹Tb dose, compared with situations with uniform targeting. With an intracytoplasmic location, nuclear and membrane absorbed doses to unlabeled cells were one half to one quarter those obtained with uniform targeting, both for ¹⁷⁷Lu and for ¹⁶¹Tb. Dual targeting was beneficial in minimizing absorbed dose heterogeneities. Conclusion: To eradicate tumor cell clusters, ¹⁶¹Tb may be a better candidate than ¹⁷⁷Lu. Heterogeneous cell targeting can lead to substantial heterogeneities in absorbed doses. Dual targeting was helpful in reducing dose heterogeneity and should be explored in preclinical and clinical studies.

Keywords: 161Tb; 177Lu; absorbed dose; targeted radionuclide therapy; terbium-161.