Evaluation of agonist and antagonist radioligands for somatostatin receptor imaging of breast cancer using positron emission tomography

Background: The somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (sstr2) is expressed on a majority of luminal breast cancers, however SPECT and scintigraphy imaging with agonistic sstr2 probes has been sub-optimal. High affinity antagonists can access more binding sites on the cell surface, resulting in higher tumor uptake and improved sensitivity. We compared the tumor uptake and biodistribution of the antagonist 68Ga-NODAGA-JR11 with two agonists 68Ga-DOTA-Tyr3-octreotide (68Ga-DOTATOC) and 68Ga-DOTA-Tyr3-octreotate (68Ga-DOTATATE), in the human, sstr2-positive, luminal breast cancer model: ZR-75-1. Results: Peptides were assayed for binding affinity using a filtration-based competitive assay to sstr2. natGa-DOTATOC and natGa-DOTATATE had excellent affinity (inhibition constant Ki: 0.9 ± 0.1 nM and 1.4 ± 0.3 nM respectively) compared to natGa-NODAGA-JR11 (25.9 ± 0.2 nM). The number of binding sites on ZR-75-1 cells was determined in vitro by saturation assays. Agonist 67/natGa-DOTATOC bound to 6.64 ± 0.39 × 104 sites/cells, which was 1.5-fold higher than 67/natGa-NODAGA-JR11 and 2.3-fold higher than 67/natGa-DOTATATE. All three 68Ga-labeled peptides were obtained in good decay-corrected radiochemical yield (61-68%) and were purified by high performance liquid chromatography to ensure high specific activity (137 – 281 MBq/nmol at the end of synthesis). NOD scid gamma mice bearing ZR-75-1 tumors were injected intravenously with the labeled peptides and used for PET/CT imaging and biodistribution at 1 h post-injection. We found that 68Ga-DOTATOC had the highest tumor uptake (18.4 ± 2.9%ID/g), followed by 68Ga-DOTATATE (15.2 ± 2.2%ID/g) and 68Ga-NODAGA-JR11 (12.2 ± 0.8%ID/g). Tumor-to-blood and tumor-to-muscle ratios were also higher for the agonists (>40 and >150 respectively), compared to the antagonist (15.6 ± 2.2 and 45.2 ± 11.6 respectively). Conclusions: The antagonist 68Ga-NODAGA-JR11 had the lowest tumor uptake and contrast compared to agonists 68Ga-DOTATOC and 68Ga-DOTATATE in ZR-75-1 xenografts. The main contributing factor to this result could be the use of an endogenously expressing cell line, which may differ from previously published transfected models in the number of low-affinity, antagonist-specific binding sites. The relative merit of agonists versus antagonists for sstr2 breast cancer imaging warrants further investigation, first in preclinical models with other sstr2-positive breast cancer xenografts, and ultimately in luminal breast cancer patients.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCRadiology, Department ofReviewedFacult

Imaging Bradykinin B1 Receptor with ⁶⁸Ga-Labeled [des-Arg¹⁰]Kallidin Derivatives: Effect of the Linker on Biodistribution and Tumor Uptake

Bradykinin B1 receptor (B1R) that is overexpressed in cancers but minimally expressed in normal healthy tissues represents an attractive biomarker for the development of cancer imaging agents. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of different linkers on the pharmacokinetics and tumor uptake of a B1R-targeting radio-peptide sequence, ⁶⁸Ga-DOTA-linker-Lys-Arg-Pro-Hyp-Gly-Cha-Ser-Pro-Leu. Four peptides, SH01078, P03034, P04115, and P04168, with 6-aminohexanoic acid, 9-amino-4,7-dioxanonanoic acid, Gly-Gly, and 4-amino-(1-carboxymethyl)­piperidine, respectively, as the linker were synthesized and evaluated. In vitro competition binding assays showed that the <i>K</i>_i values of SH01078, P03034, P04115, and P04168 were 27.8 ± 4.9, 16.0 ± 1.9, 11.4 ± 2.5, and 3.6 ± 0.2 nM, respectively. Imaging and biodistribution studies were performed in mice bearing both B1R-positive HEK293T::hB1R and B1R-negative HEK293T tumors. All tracers showed mainly renal excretion with excellent tumor visualization and minimal background activity except for kidneys and bladder. The average uptake of ⁶⁸Ga-labeled SH01078, P03034, and P04115 in HEK293T::hB1R tumor was similar (1.96–2.17%ID/g) at 1 h postinjection. ⁶⁸Ga-P04168 generated higher HEK293T::hB1R tumor uptake (4.15 ± 1.13%ID/g) and lower background activity, leading to a >2-fold improvement in HEK293T::hB1R tumor-to-background (HEK293T tumor, blood, muscle, and liver) contrasts over those of ⁶⁸Ga-labeled SH01078, P03034, and P04115. Our results indicate that the choice of linker affects binding affinity, pharmacokinetics, and tumor targeting. The use of the cationic 4-amino-(1-carboxymethyl)­piperidine linker improved tumor visualization, and the resulting ⁶⁸Ga-P04168 might be promising for clinical application for imaging B1R-expressing tumors with positron emission tomography