Isotope applications will help in cancer fight: RATC

Cancer and treatment may become more effective in the near future with the help of isotope applications, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research's Radiation Application Technology Center (RATC) said yesterday at a press conference.

"Cancer has been Taiwan's leading cause of death for more than 25 years, but by developing new technologies the RATC can help the medical sector reduce incidents of late diagnosis, as well as increase the effects of existing drugs," the center's isotope application division associate scientist Luo Tsai-yueh (羅彩月) told reporters.

So far the center has achieved preliminary results for both pharmaceuticals and medical equipment such as an early-stage breast cancer scanner set to hit the market by the end of the year.

"Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of female mortality in Taiwan, but most of the deaths are due to late discovery of the disease," Luo said, adding that first-stage breast cancer prognosis has a near-100 percent survival rate.

"The scanner images with FDG, which is a glucose analog that would be consumed by glucose-hungry cells such as brain or cancer cells," Luo said.

With the fluorine in the FDG molecule emitting radioactive traces, the substance can be injected into the body to show the distribution of cancer cells on a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, even at their early stage, Luo said.

The new breast cancer scanner has two other strong appeals compared with its predecessors, Luo said.

"With Taiwanese culture in mind, the scanner is compact and mobile so that it can tour community centers and help women who are too shy to visit hospitals to get regular checkups," Luo said.

"Also, the machines are significantly cheaper than traditional models. We are not targeting the VIP market. We want everyone to be able to reap the benefits," she said.

The center is also working on target therapy drugs for cancer, conjugating monoclonal antibodies with therapeutic radioisotopes, Luo said.

"Currently monoclonal antibodies are one of the most commonly used drugs to battle cancer. By using radioisotopes, the drug works more effectively because the body's natural antibodies are not combating the tumor cells on their own. Radiation emitted by the radioisotopes carried by the compound also have curing effects," she said.

The compound had achieved preliminary success in rats and will enter clinical trials soon, she said.