Grant: Project Grant

CXCR4 is a protein in humans that is observed in high abundance in more than 20 different types of cancer. This protein has been shown to be involved in homing of cancer cells to the bone marrow, and to help cancer cells resist the effect of cancer treatments. In recent years, CXCR4 has been a proposed as a target for development of radioactive drugs for cancer imaging and treatment. Our team recently developed a series of potent radioactive drugs that target CXCR4 selectively, and we have improved and optimized biochemical properties of this material to be used for cancer imaging and therapy. These drugs are particularly attractive to localize and treat hard to cure cancers such as multiple myeloma (a cancer of the bone marrow), and recurrent or treatment refractory aggressive lymphomas (cancers of the lymph nodes). This project integrates a multidisciplinary team with expertise in chemistry, radiochemistry, nuclear medicine, molecular biology of hematological cancers, and hemato-oncology. The overall goal of this study is to study the role of novel CXCR4 radioactive tracer to treat recurrent lymphomas and multiple myeloma. Anticipated Outcome: This project builds on prior research that led to the development of a very potent CXCR4 radioactive drug that was concentrates in high amount in tumour tissues with low accumulation in normal organs. The proposed experiments will provide essential knowledge to optimize the use of this approach to treat cancers and reduce potential toxicity in order to allow effective and safe clinical application of CXCR4-targeted radioactive drug treatment of blood related cancers that do not respond to treatment.