The effect of macrocyclic chelators on the targeting properties of the 68Ga-labeled gastrin releasing peptide receptor antagonist PEG2-RM26

IntroductionOverexpression of gastrin-releasing peptide receptors (GRPR) has been reported in several cancers. Bombesin (BN) analogs are short peptides with a high affinity for GRPR. Different BN analogs were evaluated for radionuclide imaging and therapy of GRPR-expressing tumors. We have previously investigated an antagonistic analog of BN (D-Phe-Gln-Trp-Ala-Val-Gly-His-Sta-Leu-NH2, RM26) conjugated to NOTA via a PEG2 spacer (NOTA-PEG2-RM26) labeled with 68Ga, 111In and Al18F. 68Ga-labeled NOTA-PEG2-RM26 showed high tumor-to-organ ratios.MethodsThe influence of different macrocyclic chelators (NOTA, NODAGA, DOTA and DOTAGA) on the targeting properties of 68Ga-labeled PEG2-RM26 was studied in vitro and in vivo.ResultsAll conjugates were labeled with generator-produced 68Ga with high yields and demonstrated high stability and specific binding to GRPR. The IC50 values of natGa-X-PEG2-RM26 (X = NOTA, DOTA, NODAGA, DOTAGA) were 2.3 ± 0.2, 3.0 ± 0.3, 2.9 ± 0.3 and 10.0 ± 0.6 nM, respectively. The internalization of the conjugates by PC-3 cells was low. However, the DOTA-conjugated analog demonstrated a higher internalization rate compared to other analogs. GRPR-specific uptake was found in receptor-positive normal tissues and PC-3 xenografts for all conjugates. The biodistribution of the conjugates was influenced by the choice of the chelator moiety. Although all radiotracers cleared rapidly from the blood, [68Ga]Ga-NOTA-PEG2-RM26 showed