Polymeric micelles and the Dy-166/Ho-166 generator

A study of the loading mechanism of Dy/Dy-166 and Ho-166 into PCL-b-PEO polymeric micelles for imaging and cancer treatment

Master thesis (2023)

Authors

M.G. Smit Applied Sciences

Contributors

A.G. Denkova RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes - AS (mentor)
R. Wang RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes - AS (mentor)
R.M. de Kruijff RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes - AS (graduation committee member)
R. Eelkema ChemE/Advanced Soft Matter - AS (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Applied Sciences, Applied Sciences
Copyright: © 2023 Rinus Smit
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Published Date

03-11-2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Applied Sciences

Abstract

A radioisotope used in radionuclide therapy is Holmium-166 (Ho-166). The treatment effectiveness of Ho-166 could be improved by the use of a so called in vivo Dysprosium-166(Dy-166)/Ho-166 generator. The application of this generator is hindered by an effect called internal conversion (IC). This affect can arise after the decay of Dy-166 to Ho-166, which can cause separation of Ho-166 from its carrier.
Polymeric micelles might form a solution in the application of the Dy-166/Ho-166 generator in radionuclide therapy. The main goal of this thesis was to investigate and understand the loading mechanism of metallic species and polymeric micelles with a focus on the loading of Dy/Dy-166 and Ho-166.

It was found that it was not effective to load metallic species (Dy/Dy-166) as free ions or as solid precipitates. Loading metallic species as aqueous hydroxides showed to be crucial for achieving a good loading and high stability. The second goal was to study if polymeric micelles were able to retain Ho-166 inside their core under the effects of internal conversion. No additional losses of Ho-166 were found when Dy/Dy-166 and Ho-166 were loaded into the micelles. It was concluded that the PCL-PEO micelles prevented the loss of Ho-166 under internal conversion effects.