HYBRID PSMA: radio-guided in combination with fluorescence-guided surgery in prostate cancer

With over 10,000 new patients and over 2,500 prostate cancer deaths each year, prostate cancer is the 5th most common type of cancer in the Netherlands. A large percentage of patients undergo (robot-assisted) surgery in which the prostate is removed. In a quarter of approximately 2,500 to 3,000 surgical procedures annually, the primary tumor is not completely removed. In addition, one-fifth of patients require extensive lymph node dissection (ePLND; Briganti score> 5%). These limitations have created the need for techniques that can increase the accuracy of the surgical procedure. In this way it should be possible to reduce complications and prevent recurrence of the disease.
The introduction of PSMA PET has greatly improved the staging of prostate cancer patients and set a new standard of care. We now want to use the visualization of tumors by their PSMA expression to perform radio- and fluorescence-guided interventions and combine them with the “GPS-like” navigation of a DROP-IN gamma-ray detection probe. For this we will pursue three sub-objectives: 1) to create a hybrid formulation of PSMA tracer (99mTcEuK- (SO3) Cy5-mas3; a tracer we have developed) suitable for use in patients, 2) to create clinically applicable navigation options for the DROP-IN probe, another technology developed by us, and 3) implementing both innovations in a clinical trial.
By introducing new surgical techniques into clinical care, public partners want to take steps towards achieving precision resections of prostate cancer and thereby raise the overall standard of care for these patients. As the IP of the technologies we will apply in clinical practice has already been ensured, the project also offers opportunities for private partners to develop commercialization trajectories.