Prof. dr. H.J. Tanke & Prof. dr. H.T. Wolterbeek

Exposed to radiation: two sides of the coin

Workshop Leader: Prof. dr. H.J. Tanke & Prof. dr. H.T. Wolterbeek
Department: Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center;  Applied Science, Technical University of Delft

How nice is it to break out for a few days and fly to warmer regions and enjoy the sun, get a nice taint and return home: look good feel good! Isn’t nice sunny weather one of the factors that determines your vacation destination? However, we also know that UV radiation may cause skin cancer through a mechanism of DNA damage. Because of the damage of the ozone layer, particularly in the Southern hemisphere, in Australia beach guards will force you out of the sun after some time of exposure. Be careful with UV radiation! Contrary, other types of radiation (from isotopes) are the best friend of radiotherapists and oncologists, as radiation can effectively stop cell growth in the context of treating cancer. Radiation thus has two sides of the coin: a good and a bad one.

In this workshop we will explain the cell biological mechanisms of UV damage that leads to cancer (the bad side). Our body has an effective mechanism to repair mistakes and errors in the DNA, but in some situation prolonged exposure to UV generates errors that can not be repaired and melanoma’s may originate. For the good side we will discuss the steps that are needed to develop a radioisotope for cancer therapy and answer questions as “how to get the isotopes to the tumour (e.g. targeting), how to avoid that the body destroys the radioactive tool, how to find the right biokinetics for optimal treatment and minimal side effects?” These questions are discussed in the context of the development of somatostatin analogues (177Lu-DOTA-Tyr3-octreotate) for the treatment of neuroendocrine disorders (a collaborative project of TUDelft and Erasmus University Rotterdam).