Générateur 103-Ru/103mRh pour l'Auger thérapie : de l'étude fondamentale de spéciation des éléments à la preuve de concept: Soutenance de thèse de doctorat de Marie Théry

Conversion and Auger electrons are promising for vectorized internal radiotherapy for cancer treatment, in addition to α and β- particles. These emitters specifically target individual cancer cells with high lineic energy transfer and without the limitations of α emitters. Rhodium-103m (T1/2 = 56.11 min) is an interesting candidate for Auger therapy and can be produced from Ruthenium-103. The availability of a 103Ru/103mRh generator would provide the possibility of regularly supplying 103mRh to evaluate its therapeutic potential. Solvent extraction separation of Rh and Ru has been described in the past. However, using a chromatographic resin would allow to produce 103mRh with a higher specific activity and facilitate its development on a larger scale. However, several challenges remain. The chemistry of Ru and Rh in aqueous solution is complex and often poorly understood, with scarce data available, especially in a chloride medium (HCl). The first goal of this work was to get a better understanding of the speciation of these elements and to better control it. The second objective was to efficiently separate Ru and Rh using a chromatographic system in HCl medium. Retention tests on various resins were conducted to select the one with the best separation coefficient. A proof of concept of the generator was achieved with 97/103Ru. In parallel, the very first studies were conducted to evaluate Rh complexation.