2025. June 10., Tuesday
Szegedi Tudományegyetem Szent-Györgyi Albert Orvostudományi Kar

University of Szeged
Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School
 
Foreign Students' Secretariat




Your Education. Our Mission.

kja___number_6265

First radioisotope prostate-specific tumour therapy in Hungary performed in Szeged

The Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Szeged, led by Prof. Dr. László Pávics, has performed the first radioligand treatment in Hungary, opening a new way in the treatment of prostate cancer patients.

Radioisotope treatment prolongs the survival of patients with advanced prostate cancer. This innovative treatment approach is administered through an intravenous infusion and combines the power of radioisotopes with a target-seeking ligand to deliver radiation to cancer cells expressing a specific target, even when they have spread throughout the body. With radioligand therapies, the goal is to deliver the treatment to the target cells to damage or destroy those cells while limiting impact to surrounding cells.


’Until now, the treatment of prostate cancer has mainly been based on hormone therapy, various chemotherapeutic agents and radiation, which are now complemented by radioisotope treatment’ Prof. László Pávics told us. – ’Both in the field of diagnostics and in therapy, the fact that it is now possible to visualise the biochemical abnormalities characteristic of prostate cancer with appropriate isotopic labelling has opened up new possibilities.’ By using a radioisotope bound to a suitable molecule that has a therapeutic (cell-destroying) effect, we can treat metastases of prostate cancer (bone, lymph node, soft tissue and other organs) in a very specific way.


1


’177-lutetium PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen) therapy does not burden patients and there are hardly any side effects,’ Dr. László Pávics emphasized. Injected in up to 6 treatment cycles at staggered intervals, the therapy allows radiation to be targeted to prostate cancer cells – with minimal effects on healthy cells – by binding to PSMA, the protein found on the surface of the cells. Referring to the latest studies, the professor said that the treatment outcomes of about 8,000 people with prostate cancer have been studied and it is clear that more than 50 percent of patients responded well to the first treatment and 80 percent of them achieved significant improvement after receiving multiple treatment rounds.


In 2017, the Department’s working group started working on a diagnostic method based on prostate-specific membrane antigen, which is a protein highly expressed in prostate cancer cells. PSMA can be used as a biomarket for positron emitter labeling in PET scans. With the introduction of this pioneering method, the most modern detection of prostate cancer and its metastases was established in Hungary. Since then prostate-specific membrane antigen PET/CT has become a routine diagnostic method for prostate cancer and patients from all over the country are currently coming to our university for the tests.


2


In 2019, in collaboration with the Department of Urology, the first radioisotope-guided lymph node dissection was performed at SZTE. In the next step, after about eight years of development, the first therapeutic use of this important material has now become possible.

Radioisotope therapy of prostate tumours is administered by intravenous infusion and currently involves a hospital stay of 2-3 days. In the future, it is planned to be available on an outpatient basis. Six cycles are used every six weeks, but the number of treatments can be increased as needed. Professor Pávics stressed that radioisotope therapy does not replace other treatments, but is an additional option that prolongs progression-free survival and improves quality of life, even for patients with advanced, and extensive disease.

Latest news

SZTE-MSD_egyuttmukodesi_megallapodas_alairas_2

The University of Szeged and MSD have established a joint Pharmaceutical Industry Partnership Department, marking a new chapter in their collaboration. This initiative builds on a long-standing partnership – further strengthened in 2023 through clinical trial cooperation – and seeks to foster innovation in research, education, and pharmaceutical development. The agreement was officially signed in Szeged by Prof. Dr. László Rovó, Rector of the University of Szeged; Prof. Dr. Ildikó Csóka, Director-General for Strategic Planning; Prof. Dr. Zsolt Szakonyi, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy; Sean R. Smith, Managing Director of MSD Pharma Hungary Kft.; and Dr. Szabolcs Barótfi, Director of Clinical Research at MSD Hungary.

083a6605

On May 12, the University of Szeged held an official ceremony to inaugurate its new research unit: the Host–Pathogen Interaction Center. Located within the Institute of Biology, the Center features Hungary’s only in vivo experimental station of its kind, alongside five newly renovated laboratories. This state-of-the-art facility is designed to support the development of antimicrobial therapies, with a particular focus on antifungal treatments – addressing a pressing yet often overlooked public health concern. The project was made possible through both professional and financial support from Katalin Karikó, an SZTE alumna and recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

KJA-Number-0879

The origins of the University of Szeged date back to May 12, 1581, when István Báthory established the Jesuit College in Cluj-Napoca – an institution recognized as SZTE's legal predecessor. Exactly 444 years later, the University marked this anniversary with a symbolic “birthday gift”: the signing of two strategic partnership agreements. Supported by two of South America’s leading scientific and healthcare institutions, these partnerships are set to position SZTE among the global research elite in emerging and internationally significant fields of healthcare research and education.