Synthesis of Novel, Dual-Targeting <sup>68</sup>Ga-NODAGA-LacN-E[c(RGDfK)]<sub>2</sub> Glycopeptide as a PET Imaging Agent for Cancer Diagnosis

oleh: Barbara Gyuricza, Judit P. Szabó, Viktória Arató, Dániel Szücs, Adrienn Vágner, Dezső Szikra, Anikó Fekete

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-05-01

Deskripsi

Radiolabeled peptides possessing an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif are widely used radiopharmaceuticals for PET imaging of tumor angiogenesis due to their high affinity and selectivity to α<sub>v</sub>β<sub>3</sub> integrin. This receptor is overexpressed in tumor and tumor endothelial cells in the case of numerous cancer cell lines, therefore, it is an excellent biomarker for cancer diagnosis. The galectin-3 protein is also highly expressed in tumor cells and N-acetyllactosamine is a well-established ligand of this receptor. We have developed a synthetic method to prepare a lactosamine-containing radiotracer, namely <sup>68</sup>Ga-NODAGA-LacN-E[c(RGDfK)]<sub>2</sub>, for cancer diagnosis. First, a lactosamine derivative with azido-propyl aglycone was synthetized. Then, NODAGA-NHS was attached to the amino group of this lactosamine derivative. The obtained compound was conjugated to an E[c(RGDfK)]<sub>2</sub> peptide with a strain-promoted click reaction. We have accomplished the radiolabeling of the synthetized NODAGA-LacN-E[c(RGDfK)]<sub>2</sub> precursor with a positron-emitting <sup>68</sup>Ga isotope (radiochemical yield of >95%). The purification of the labeled compound with solid-phase extraction resulted in a radiochemical purity of >99%. Subsequently, the octanol–water partition coefficient (log <i>P</i>) of the labeled complex was determined to be −2.58. In addition, the in vitro stability of <sup>68</sup>Ga-NODAGA-LacN-E[c(RGDfK)]<sub>2</sub> was investigated and it was found that it was stable under the examined conditions.