Healing from the inside is the ambition of vectorized internal radiotherapy. Still confidential a few years ago, this medical technology is booming, and the Gustave Roussy Institute intends to make a central weapon in the fight against cancer.
Gustave Roussy relies on vectorized internal radiotherapy to revolutionize the treatment of cancer
A teenager with brain cancer, a woman in therapeutic dead end in the face of breast cancer, and a clear ambition: treat where other therapies fail. In Villejuif, the Gustave Roussy Institute invests massively in the Vectorized internal radiotherapy (RIV)a nuclear medicine technique capable of targeting cancer cells with extreme precision without damaging healthy tissues.
“”Nuclear medicine is experiencing a discreet but decisive revolution “says professor Désirée Deandreis, head of the nuclear medicine service, in a press release. Thanks to molecular tracers coupled with radioactive atoms, the RIV acts as a Miniature bomb placed in the very heart of the tumor cellwithout major collateral effect. In January 2025, the Institute treated its First patient in phase I For hormone therapy breast cancer, a decisive step in this therapeutic advance.
How does vectorized internal radiotherapy work?
This technology is based on the concept of “Théranostic”: the same tracer is used first for visualize the tumor, then for attack him. The analogy often taken up by the doctors of Gustave Roussy is talking: “It is as if we put a key in the lock, but we hung a bomb to the key to trap it “summarizes Frédéric Hubert, health executive in the nuclear medicine department, in the columns of Parisian.
The approach is based on the injection of a ligand specific to the tumor, capable of recognize the molecular target cancer (like the PSMA for prostate or the HER2 receiver for certain breast cancers). This ligand is then coupled with a radioactive transmitteroften a Alpha transmitter Like Radium 223 or Actinium, much more precise and destructive than previous generations of radio-Isotopes.
The RIV opens to new cancers
Long confined to the treatment of thyroid cancer, then that of prostate, vectorized internal radiotherapy is experiencing a Quick extension of its indications. In Gustave Roussy, the teams now explore its effectiveness on cancers deemed to be difficult: breast, pancreas, brain, colon, liver, bladder and even kidney.
“”It has been discovered that the prostate cancer marker (PSMA) also stared at kidney cancer, for which we had no target so far “explains Professor Deandreis at Parisian. Result: a 13 -year -old teenager was able to benefit from this approach to treat a resistant cerebral medulloblastomaand other tests are already underway.
In figures, the RIV has experienced a 88 % activity increase between 2022 and 2023proof of a real therapeutic turn. No less 13 clinical trials are planned in 2025 in the institute’s nuclear medicine department.
Gustave Roussy’s great ambitions
Behind this rise in power, a colossal strategic effort. In 2021, the Nuclear Medicine Service of Gustave Roussy was fully renovated : 200 m² equipped with sealed rooms,, CZT gamma-caméras,, Digital TEP-Scanners,, Integrated radiopharmacyand radioactive urine collection devices to be preserved for several weeks or even months.
This high level of equipment allowed the establishment to obtain the Double authorization from ARS and ASN to achieve Phase I clinical trialsa rarity in Europe. “”This certification marks our entry into the restricted circle of European centers capable of administering innovative radiopharmaceuticals for the first time.underlines the press release from Gustave Roussy.
The Institute is intended to become a European reference centerby widening tumor targets, developing the production of radiopharmaceuticals on site, and accelerating patient access to these rupture treatments. Nuclear medicine, long in the shadows, takes the front of the stage today.