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Background: The somatostatin receptors 1–5 are overexpressed on neuroendocrine neoplasms and, as such, represent a favorable target for molecular imaging. This study investigates the potential of [18F]AlF-NOTA-[1-Nal3]-Octreotide and compares it in vivo to DOTA- and NOTA-[1-Nal3]-Octreotide radiolabeled with gallium-68. Methods: DOTA- and NOTA-NOC were radiolabeled with gallium-68 and NOTA-NOC with [18F]AlF. Biodistributions of the three radioligands were evaluated in AR42J xenografted mice at 1 h p.i and for [18F]AlF at 3 h p.i. Preclinical PET/CT was applied to confirm the general uptake pattern. Results: Gallium-68 was incorporated into DOTA- and NOTA-NOC in yields and radiochemical purities greater than 96.5%. NOTA-NOC was radiolabeled with [18F]AlF in yields of 38 ± 8% and radiochemical purity above 99% after purification. The biodistribution in tumor-bearing mice showed a high uptake in tumors of 26.4 ± 10.8 %ID/g for [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-NOC and 25.7 ± 5.8 %ID/g for [68Ga]Ga-NOTA-NOC. Additionally, [18F]AlF-NOTA-NOC exhibited a tumor uptake of 37.3 ± 10.5 %ID/g for [18F]AlF-NOTA-NOC, which further increased to 42.1 ± 5.3 %ID/g at 3 h p.i. Conclusions: The high tumor uptake of all radioligands was observed. However, [18F]AlF-NOTA-NOC surpassed the other clinically well-established radiotracers in vivo, especially at 3 h p.i. The tumor-to-blood and -liver ratios increased significantly over three hours for [18F]AlF-NOTA-NOC, making it possible to detect liver metastases. Therefore, [18F]AlF demonstrates promise as a surrogate pseudo-radiometal to gallium-68. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite promising anti-cancer properties in vitro, all titanium-based pharmaceuticals have failed in vivo. Likewise, no target-specific positron emission tomography (PET) tracer based on the radionuclide 45Ti has been developed, notwithstanding its excellent PET imaging properties. In this contribution, we present liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) in flow-based recovery and the purification of 45Ti, computer-aided design, and the synthesis of a salan-natTi/45Ti-chelidamic acid (CA)-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) ligand containing the Glu-urea-Lys pharmacophore. The compound showed compromised serum stability, however, no visible PET signal from the PC3+ tumor was seen, while the ex vivo biodistribution measured the tumor accumulation at 1.1% ID/g. The in vivo instability was rationalized in terms of competitive citrate binding followed by Fe(III) transchelation. The strategy to improve the in vivo stability by implementing a unimolecular ligand design is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]