“Science does indeed follow Edison’s

“Science does indeed follow Edison’s

                                famous maxim: 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration”

“One of the first examples of nuclear medicine was

the use of radioactive iodine to treat thyroid cancer”

whether it’s damaged or not” – but the move to

nuclear medicine came about by chance when he

was given an oncology research grant. He quickly

embarked on his targeting research.

Leaving a permanent assistant’s post in the

nuclearmedicine department at theBufalini hospital

in Cesena, near Bologna, Paganelli took up a

fellowship to do basic research at London’s

HammersmithHospital.His Italian boss was none

toopleased–but the opportunity to joina groupworking

on newradioimmunotherapy targetingmethods

using monoclonal antibodies, under well-known

medical oncologistAgamemnon Epenetos, was too

good to pass up.

“The field started as a branch of pathophysiology,”

explains Paganelli, “and cardiology was the most

important application10–15years ago.That’s changed

dramaticallynow. I estimate that about80%ofnuclear

medicine is nowfocused on oncology, although heart

and other organ functioning are still crucial areas.”All

told, there are nowmore than 100 procedures in regular

use in nuclearmedicine departments.However,

as he adds, one of the first examples of nuclearmedicine

– and a truly targeted therapy and an oncology

application to boot – was the use in 1946 of radioactive

iodine to treat thyroid cancer,makinguse of the

unique ability of the gland’s cells to absorb iodine and

so localise the killing effect of radiation. “Aproteintraps

the iodine like a TrojanHorse,” says Paganelli.

The first commercial radiopharmaceutical, based

on iodine-131,went on sale in 1950; the scintillation

(gamma) camera came out in1958; cyclotrons toproduce

medical radioisotopes were introduced in the

early1960s (aswas the forerunner ofPET); andheart,

lung and other organs became standard scanning

targets for nuclearmedicine, which was recognised

as a speciality in the US, in 1971. But it was a

demonstration byDavidGoldenberg, in 1973, of the

targeting of tumour antigens by radiolabelled antibodies

that set in train Paganelli’s arrival at Hammersmith

in the 1980s.