iFIT Seminar Series Session with Prof. Dr. Tobias L. Ross
Radiofolates for imaging and therapy – will we reach bedside sometime?
On behalf of the iFIT spokespersons Lars Zender, Juliane Walz and Bernd Pichler, it is our pleasure to inform you about and invite you to the next iFIT Seminar Series Session 2024 that will take place
on Monday, June 3rd at 12:00 pm (CEST)
at Big Lecture Hall in the HNO Clinic (HNO Klinik, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5 , 72076 Tübingen).
Our guest speaker, Prof. Dr. Tobias L. Ross (Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Clinic for Nuclear Medicine, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover ) will give a talk on
“Radiofolates for imaging and therapy – will we reach bedside sometime?”.
For decades, the folate receptor (FR) has been a well-known target in oncology and immunology. Several human epithelial tumors overexpress the FR (i.e. ovarian, breast, head-neck, colorectal cancer), while it is almost absent in healthy tissue. A notable expression is only restricted to kidneys (proximal tubule), choroid plexus and thyroid. The native ligand, folic acid, has a high binding affinity in the low nanomolar range and offers a glutamate moiety for chemical conjugation with a great tolerance in size and structure. Thus, targeting the FR using derivatives of folic acid (folates) is a very attractive concept for drug delivery and imaging. Varieties of radiolabeled derivatives of folic acid, radiofolates, have been developed over time, especially for diagnostics in nuclear medicine. However, radiofolates have not arrived in clinical routine, yet. Moreover, a radiotherapeutic approach is still prevented by the strong accumulation of radiofolates in the kidneys, which would deposit a high radiation dose in the healthy tissue and cause severe damage. Novel approaches in radiofolate research have the potential to overcome this hurdles and enable the way for translation into clinical applications. This short overview will summarize the developments on radiofolates for imaging as well as a novel concepts for therapeutic use of radiofolates.
As a special feature of this program, the iFIT will sponsor free lunch packages! (First come, first serve)
All members of the University Hospital and University of Tübingen are invited to participate!
We look forward to this Seminar Series session and to see you there!
