Isolation of cyclotron produced gallium by thermal diffusion and its use in preparation of Ga-PSMA11

Isolation of cyclotron produced gallium by thermal diffusion and its use in preparation of Ga-PSMA11

Jonathan Siikanen, Serge K. Lyashchenko, Eva Burnazi, Ryan Kerslake, Alejandro Amor-Coarasa, Naga Vara Kishore Pillarsetty, and Jason S. Lewis
Karolinska University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Cornell University

Poster

None

Potential global SPECT radionuclide shortages, combined with the advent of clinically relevant ligands targeting neuroendocrine and prostate cancer tumors have sparked great interest in Ga-68 cyclotron production development. Current dissolution of the irradiated solid targets for the purpose of isolating the gallium presents several challenges such as lack of yield reproducibility and variability in residual metal species which may affect subsequent radiolabeling incorporation. These issues significantly impede the translation of this methodology into clinical practice. Here, we report on the alternative method of cyclotron production of gallium by thermal diffusion and subsequent use in radiolabeling of PSMA-11.
Zinc-66 foils (0.1x18x46 mm3) were bombarded with 13 MeV protons using an EBCO (TR19/9) cyclotron. The foils were then placed in a tube furnace (under argon flow) and heated for 15 min close to the melting point of zinc to diffuse and accumulate gallium to the foil-surface. This gallium was then etched of with 5 ml, 0.1 N HCL into a liquid phase which was then used to label gallium to PSMA-11
Proton activation of zinc foils followed by isolation by thermal diffusion makes it possible to reliably produce curie-quantities of clinical gallium based tracers.

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