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European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging (2022). doi:10.1007/s00259-022-06066-3, Published by Springer-Verl., Heidelberg [u.a.]

The clinical impact and accessibility of 68Ga tracers for the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and other targets would be greatly enhanced by the availability of a simple, 1-step kit-based labeling process. Radiopharmacy staff are accustomed to such procedures in the daily preparation of 99mTc radiopharmaceuticals. Currently, chelating agents used in 68Ga radiopharmaceuticals do not meet this ideal. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate preclinically a 68Ga radiotracer for imaging PSMA expression that could be radiolabeled simply by addition of 68Ga generator eluate to a cold kit. Methods: A conjugate of a tris(hydroxypyridinone) (THP) chelator with the established urea-based PSMA inhibitor was synthesized and radiolabeled with 68Ga by adding generator eluate directly to a vial containing the cold precursors THP-PSMA and sodium bicarbonate, with no further manipulation. It was analyzed after 5 min by instant thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. The product was subjected to in vitro studies to determine PSMA affinity using PSMA-expressing DU145-PSMA cells, with their nonexpressing analog DU145 as a control. In vivo PET imaging and ex vivo biodistribution studies were performed in mice bearing xenografts of the same cell lines, comparing 68Ga-THP-PSMA with 68Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA. Results: Radiolabeling was complete (>95%) within 5 min at room temperature, showing a single radioactive species by high-performance liquid chromatography that was stable in human serum for more than 6 h and showed specific binding to PSMA-expressing cells (concentration giving 50% inhibition of 361 ± 60 nM). In vivo PET imaging showed specific uptake in PSMA-expressing tumors, reaching 5.6 ± 1.2 percentage injected dose per cubic centimeter at 40-60 min and rapid clearance from blood to kidney and bladder. The tumor uptake, biodistribution, and pharmacokinetics were not significantly different from those of 68Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA except for reduced uptake in the spleen. Conclusion:68Ga-THP-PSMA has equivalent imaging properties but greatly simplified radiolabeling compared with other 68Ga-PSMA conjugates. THP offers the prospect of rapid, simple, 1-step, room-temperature syringe-and-vial radiolabeling of 68Ga radiopharmaceuticals.

The increasing availability of the long half-life positron emitter Zr-89 (half life 78.4 h) suggests that it is a strong candidate for cell labelling and hence cell tracking using positron emission tomography. The aim was to produce a range of neutral ZrL4 lipophilic complexes for cell labelling which could be prepared under radiopharmaceutical conditions. This was achieved when the ligand was oxine, tropolone or ethyl maltol. The complexes can be prepared in high yield from zirconium(iv) precursors in hydrochloric or oxalic acid solution. The oxinate and tropolonate complexes were the most amenable to chromatographic characterisation, and HPLC and ITLC protocols have been established to monitor their radiochemical purity. The radiochemical synthesis and quality control of (89)Zr(oxinate)4 is reported as well as preliminary cell labelling data for the oxinate, tropolonate and ethyl maltolate complexes which indicates that (89)Zr(oxinate)4 is the most promising candidate for further evaluation.

The development of medical imaging is a highly multidisciplinary endeavor requiring the close cooperation of clinicians, physicists, engineers, biologists, and chemists to identify capabilities, conceive challenges and solutions and apply them in the clinic. The chemistry described in this chapter illustrates how synergistic advances in these areas drive the technology and its applications forward, with each discipline producing innovations that in turn drive innovations in the others. The main thread running through the chapter is the shift from single photon radionuclide imaging toward PET, and in turn the emerging shift from PET/CT toward PET/MRI and further, combination of these with optical imaging. Chemistry to support these transitions is exemplified by building on a summary of the status quo , and recent developments, in technetium-99m chemistry for SPECT imaging, followed by a report of recent developments to support clinical application of short-lived (Ga-68) and long-lived (Zr-89) positron-emitting isotopes, copper isotopes for PET imaging, and combined modality imaging agents based on radiolabeled iron oxide-based nanoparticles.

HYNIC (hydrazinonicotinamide) is an efficient bifunctional chelator for Tc-99m used for labelling biomolecules for molecular imaging. Developments and enhancements to improve its efficacy and versatility, including applications beyond Tc-99m labelling, include designs to allow site specificity, availability of amino acid building blocks, improved protecting groups, and a varied choice of co-ligands. In this review, these enhancements are summarised, along with an assessment of the opportunities afforded and problems posed by the use of HYNIC, a discussion of its coordination mode, and the prospects for improving its use and overcoming some of the limitations. There is now an opportunity to exploit the excellent labelling kinetics associated with the tricine-HYNIC system with better co-ligand design to enable both efficient production of labelled proteins and peptides and better specific activity and in vivo properties. In summary, HYNIC represents a well-established way to exploit the highly reactive hydrazine group, to generate bioconjugate chemistry with a degree of bioorthogonality offering the possibility for highly efficient and site specific modification of biomolecules for imaging.

The success of nanoparticle-based therapies will depend in part on accurate delivery to target receptors and organs. There is, therefore, considerable potential in nanoparticles which achieve delivery of the right drug(s) using the right route of administration to the right location at the right time, monitoring the process by non-invasive molecular imaging. A challenge is harnessing immunotherapy via activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) for the development of vaccines against major infectious diseases and cancer. In immunotherapy, delivery of the vaccine components to lymph nodes (LNs) is essential for effective stimulation of the immune response. Although some promising advances have been made, delivering therapeutics to LNs remains challenging. It is here shown that iron-oxide nanoparticles can be engineered to combine in a single and small (

Purpose 111In (typically as [111In]oxinate3) is a gold standard radiolabel for cell tracking in humans by scintigraphy. A long half-life positron-emitting radiolabel to serve the same purpose using positron emission tomography (PET) has long been sought. We aimed to develop an 89Zr PET tracer for cell labelling and compare it with [111In]oxinate3 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Methods [89Zr]Oxinate4 was synthesised and its uptake and efflux were measured in vitro in three cell lines and in human leukocytes. The in vivo biodistribution of eGFP-5T33 murine myeloma cells labelled using [89Zr]oxinate4 or [111In]oxinate3 was monitored for up to 14 days. 89Zr retention by living radiolabelled eGFP-positive cells in vivo was monitored by FACS sorting of liver, spleen and bone marrow cells followed by gamma counting. Results Zr labelling was effective in all cell types with yields comparable with 111In labelling. Retention of 89Zr in cells in vitro after 24 h was significantly better (range 71 to >90 %) than 111In (43–52 %). eGFP-5T33 cells in vivo showed the same early biodistribution whether labelled with 111In or 89Zr (initial pulmonary accumulation followed by migration to liver, spleen and bone marrow), but later translocation of radioactivity to kidneys was much greater for 111In. In liver, spleen and bone marrow at least 92 % of 89Zr remained associated with eGFP-positive cells after 7 days in vivo. Conclusion [89Zr]Oxinate4 offers a potential solution to the emerging need for a long half-life PET tracer for cell tracking in vivo and deserves further evaluation of its effects on survival and behaviour of different cell types. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00259-014-2945-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

6-Hydrazinonicotinic acid (HYNIC, 1) is a well-established bifunctional technetium-binding ligand often used to synthesise bioconjugates for radiolabelling with Tc-99m. It is capable of efficient capture of technetium at extremely low concentrations, but the structure of the labelled complexes is heterogeneous and incompletely understood. In particular, it is of interest to determine whether, at the no-carrier-added level, it acts in a chelating or non-chelating mode. Here we report two new isomers of HYNIC: 2-hydrazinonicotinic acid (2-HYNIC, 2), which (like 1) is capable of chelation through the mutually ortho hydrazine and pyridine nitrogens and 4-hydrazinonicotinic acid (4-HYNIC, 3), which is not (due to the para-relationship of the hydrazine and pyridine nitrogens). LC-MS shows that the coordination chemistry of 2 with technetium closely parallels that of conventional 1, and no advantages of one over the other in terms of potential labelling efficiency or isomerism were discernable. Both 1 and 2 formed complexes with the loss of 5 protons from the ligand set, whether the co-ligand was tricine or EDDA. Ligand 3, however, failed to complex technetium except at very high ligand concentration: the marked contrast with 1 and 2 suggests that chelation, rather than nonchelating coordination, is a key feature of technetium coordination by HYNIC. Two further new HYNIC analogues, 2-chloro-6-hydrazinonicotinic acid (2-chloro-HYNIC, 4a) and 2,6-dihydrazinonicotinic acid (diHYNIC, 5) were also synthesised. The coordination chemistry of 4a with technetium was broadly parallel to that of 1 and 2 although it was a less efficient chelator, while 5 also behaved as an efficient chelator of technetium, but its coordination chemistry remains poorly defined and requires further investigation before it can sensibly be adopted for (99m)Tc-labelling. The new analogues 4a and 5 present an opportunity to develop trifunctional HYNIC analogues for more complex bioconjugate synthesis.