Toward the Optimization of Bombesin-Based Radiotracers for Tumor Targeting

Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of GRPR protects against acute kidney injury via attenuating renal inflammation and necroptosis

Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) binds to its receptor (GRP receptor [GRPR]) to regulate multiple biological processes, but the function of GRP/GRPR axis in acute kidney injury (AKI) remains unknown. In the present study, GRPR is highly expressed by tubular epithelial cells (TECs) in patients or mice with AKI, while histone deacetylase 8 may lead to the transcriptional activation of GRPR. Functionally, we uncovered that GRPR was pathogenic in AKI, as genetic deletion of GRPR was able to protect mice from cisplatin- and ischemia-induced AKI. This was further confirmed by specifically deleting the GRPR gene from TECs in GRPRFlox/Flox//KspCre mice. Mechanistically, we uncovered that GRPR was able to interact with Toll-like receptor 4 to activate STAT1 that bound the promoter of MLKL and CCL2 to induce TEC necroptosis, necroinflammation, and macrophages recruitment. This was further confirmed by overexpressing STAT1 to restore renal injury in GRPRFlox/Flox/KspCre mice. Concurrently, STAT1 induced GRP synthesis to enforce the GRP/GRPR/STAT1 positive feedback loop. Importantly, targeting GRPR by lentivirus-packaged small hairpin RNA or by treatment with a novel GRPR antagonist RH-1402 was able to inhibit cisplatin-induced AKI. In conclusion, GRPR is pathogenic in AKI and mediates AKI via the STAT1-dependent mechanism. Thus, targeting GRPR may be a novel therapeutic strategy for AKI.

Recent Advances in Bioorthogonal Click Chemistry for Enhanced PET and SPECT Radiochemistry

Due to their high reaction rate and reliable selectivity, bioorthogonal click reactions have been extensively investigated in numerous research fields, such as nanotechnology, drug delivery, molecular imaging, and targeted therapy. Previous reviews on bioorthogonal click chemistry for radiochemistry mainly focus on ¹⁸F-labeling protocols employed to produce radiotracers and radiopharmaceuticals. In fact, besides fluorine-18, other radionuclides such as gallium-68, iodine-125, and technetium-99m are also used in the field of bioorthogonal click chemistry. Herein, to provide a more comprehensive perspective, we provide a summary of recent advances in radiotracers prepared using bioorthogonal click reactions, including small molecules, peptides, proteins, antibodies, and nucleic acids as well as nanoparticles based on these radionuclides. The combination of pretargeting with imaging modalities or nanoparticles, as well as the clinical translations study, are also discussed to illustrate the effects and potential of bioorthogonal click chemistry for radiopharmaceuticals.

New Frontiers in Molecular Imaging Using Peptide-Based Radiopharmaceuticals for Prostate Cancer

The high incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) increases the need for progress in its diagnosis, staging, and precise treatment. The overexpression of tumor-specific receptors for peptides in human cancer cells, such as gastrin-releasing peptide receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor, and somatostatin receptor, has indicated the ideal molecular basis for targeted imaging and therapy. Targeting these receptors using radiolabeled peptides and analogs have been an essential topic on the current forefront of PCa studies. Radiolabeled peptides have been used to target receptors for molecular imaging in human PCa with high affinity and specificity. The radiolabeled peptides enable optimal quick elimination from blood and normal tissues, producing high contrast for positron emission computed tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography imaging with high tumor-to-normal tissue uptake ratios. Owing to their successful application in visualization, peptide derivatives with therapeutic radionuclides for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy in PCa have been explored in recent years. These developments offer the promise of personalized, molecular medicine for individual patients. Hence, we review the preclinical and clinical literature in the past 20 years and focus on the newer developments of peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for the imaging and therapy of PCa.

Development of Novel 111-In-Labelled DOTA Urotensin II Analogues for Targeting the UT Receptor Overexpressed in Solid Tumours

Overexpression of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in tumours is widely used to develop GPCR-targeting radioligands for solid tumour imaging in the context of diagnosis and even treatment. The human vasoactive neuropeptide urotensin II (hUII), which shares structural analogies with somatostatin, interacts with a single high affinity GPCR named UT. High expression of UT has been reported in several types of human solid tumours from lung, gut, prostate, or breast, suggesting that UT is a valuable novel target to design radiolabelled hUII analogues for cancer diagnosis. In this study, two original urotensinergic analogues were first conjugated to a DOTA chelator via an aminohexanoic acid (Ahx) hydrocarbon linker and then -hUII and DOTA-urantide, complexed to the radioactive metal indium isotope to successfully lead to radiolabelled DOTA-Ahx-hUII and DOTA-Ahx-urantide. The 111In-DOTA-hUII in human plasma revealed that only 30% of the radioligand was degraded after a 3-h period. DOTA-hUII and DOTA-urantide exhibited similar binding affinities as native peptides and relayed calcium mobilization in HEK293 cells expressing recombinant human UT. DOTA-hUII, not DOTA-urantide, was able to promote UT internalization in UT-expressing HEK293 cells, thus indicating that radiolabelled 111In-DOTA-hUII would allow sufficient retention of radioactivity within tumour cells or radiolabelled DOTA-urantide may lead to a persistent binding on UT at the plasma membrane. The potential of these radioligands as candidates to target UT was investigated in adenocarcinoma. We showed that hUII stimulated the migration and proliferation of both human lung A549 and colorectal DLD-1 adenocarcinoma cell lines endogenously expressing UT. In vivo intravenous injection of 111In-DOTA-hUII in C57BL/6 mice revealed modest organ signals, with important retention in kidney. 111In-DOTA-hUII or 111In-DOTA-urantide were also injected in nude mice bearing heterotopic xenografts of lung A549 cells or colorectal DLD-1 cells both expressing UT. The observed significant renal uptake and low tumour/muscle ratio (around 2.5) suggest fast tracer clearance from the organism. Together, DOTA-hUII and DOTA-urantide were successfully radiolabelled with 111Indium, the first one functioning as a UT agonist and the second one as a UT-biased ligand/antagonist. To allow tumour-specific targeting and prolong body distribution in preclinical models bearing some solid tumours, these radiolabelled urotensinergic analogues should be optimized for being used as potential molecular tools for diagnosis imaging or even treatment tools.

Comparison of biological properties of [177 Lu]Lu-ProBOMB1 and [177 Lu]Lu-NeoBOMB1 for GRPR targeting

The gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) is overexpressed in prostate cancer and other solid malignancies. Following up on our work on [68 Ga]Ga-ProBOMB1 that had better imaging characteristics than [68 Ga]Ga-NeoBOMB1, we investigated the effects of substituting 68 Ga for 177 Lu to determine if the resulting radiopharmaceuticals could be used with a therapeutic aim. We radiolabeled the bombesin antagonist ProBOMB1 (DOTA-pABzA-DIG-D-Phe-Gln-Trp-Ala-Val-Gly-His-Leu-ψ-Pro-NH2 ) with lutetium-177 and compared it with [177 Lu]Lu-NeoBOMB1 (obtained in 54.2 ± 16.5% isolated radiochemical yield with >96% radiochemical purity and 440.8 ± 165.1 GBq/μmol molar activity) for GRPR targeting. Lu-NeoBOMB1 had better binding affinity for GRPR than Lu-ProBOMB1 (Ki values: 2.26 ± 0.24 and 30.2 ± 3.23nM). [177 Lu]Lu-ProBOMB1 was obtained in 53.7 ± 5.4% decay-corrected radiochemical yield with 444.2 ± 193.2 GBq/μmol molar activity and >95% radiochemical purity. In PC-3 prostate cancer xenograft mice, tumor uptake of [177 Lu]Lu-ProBOMB1 was 3.38 ± 1.00, 1.32 ± 0.24, and 0.31 ± 0.04%ID/g at 1, 4, and 24 hours pi. However, the uptake in tumor was lower than [177 Lu]Lu-NeoBOMB1 at all time points. [177 Lu]Lu-ProBOMB1 was inferior to [177 Lu]Lu-NeoBOMB1, which had better therapeutic index for the organs receiving the highest doses.

Radiolabelled Peptides for Positron Emission Tomography and Endoradiotherapy in Oncology

This review deals with the development of peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for the use with positron emission tomography and peptide receptor radiotherapy. It discusses the pros and cons of this class of radiopharmaceuticals as well as the different labelling strategies, and summarises approaches to optimise metabolic stability. Additionally, it presents different target structures and addresses corresponding tracers, which are already used in clinical routine or are being investigated in clinical trials.

HYNIC and DOMA conjugated radiolabeled bombesin analogs as receptor-targeted probes for scintigraphic detection of breast tumor

Background

Among the many peptide receptor systems, gastrin-releasing-peptide (GRP) receptors, the mammalian equivalent of bombesin (BN) receptors, are potential targets for diagnosis and therapy of breast tumors due to their overexpression in various frequently occurring human cancers. The aim of this study was to synthesize and comparative evaluation of ^99mTc-labeled new BN peptide analogs. Four new BN analogs, HYNIC-Asp[PheNle]BN(7-14)NH₂, BN1; HYNIC-Pro-Asp[TyrMet]BN(7-14)NH₂, BN2; HYNIC-Asp-Asn[Lys-CHAla-Nle]BN(7-14)NH₂, BN3; and DOMA-GABA[Pro-Tyr-Nle]BN(7-14)NH₂, BN4 were synthesized and biologically evaluated for targeted imaging of GRP receptor-positive breast-tumors.

Methods

Solid-phase synthesis using Fmoc-chemistry was adopted for the synthesis of peptides. BN1–BN4 analogs were better over the standard Gln-Trp-Ala-Val-Gly-His-Leu-Met-NH₂ (BNS). Lipophilicity, serum stability, internalization, and binding affinity studies were carried out using ^99mTc-labeled analogs. Biodistribution and imaging analyses were performed on MDA-MB-231 cell-induced tumor-bearing mice. BN-analogs induced angiogenesis; tumor formation and GRP-receptor-expression were confirmed by histology and immunohistochemistry analyses of tumor sections and important tissue sections.

Results

All the analogs displayed ≥ 97% purity after the HPLC purification. BN-peptide-conjugates exhibited high serum stability and significant binding affinity to GRP-positive tumor; rapid internalization/externalization in/from MDA-MB-231 cells were noticed for the BN analogs. BN4 and BN3 exhibited higher binding affinity, stability than BN1 and BN2. Highly specific in vivo uptakes to the tumor were clearly visualized by scintigraphy; rapid excretion from non-target tissues via kidneys suggests a higher tumor-to-background ratio. BN4, among all the analogs, stimulates the expression of angiogenic markers to a maximum.

Conclusion

Considering its most improved pharmacological characteristics, BN4 is thus considered as most promising probes for early non-invasive diagnosis of GRP receptor-positive breast tumors.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13550-019-0493-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Positron Emission Tomography Imaging of Prostate Cancer with Ga-68-Labeled Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Receptor Agonist BBN7-14 and Antagonist RM26

Radiolabeled bombesin (BBN) analogs have long been used for developing gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) targeted imaging probes, and tracers with excellent in vivo performance including high tumor uptake, high contrast, and favorable pharmacokinetics are highly desired. In this study, we compared the ⁶⁸Ga-labeled GRPR agonist (Gln–Trp–Ala–Val–Gly–His–Leu–Met–NH₂, BBN_7–14) and antagonist (d-Phe–Gln–Trp–Ala–Val–Gly–His–Sta–Leu–NH₂, RM26) for the positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of prostate cancer. The in vitro stabilities, receptor binding, cell uptake, internalization, and efflux properties of the probes ⁶⁸Ga–1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid (NOTA)–Aca–BBN_7–14 and ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–poly(ethylene glycol)₃ (PEG₃)–RM26 were studied in PC-3 cells, and the in vivo GRPR targeting abilities and kinetics were investigated using PC-3 tumor xenografted mice. BBN_7–14, PEG₃-RM26, NOTA–Aca–BBN_7–14, and NOTA–PEG₃–RM26 showed similar binding affinity to GRPR. In PC-3 tumor-bearing mice, the tumor uptake of ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–PEG₃–RM26 remained at around 3.00 percentage of injected dose per gram of tissue within 1 h after injection, in contrast with ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–Aca–BBN_7–14, which demonstrated rapid elimination and high background signal. Additionally, the majority of the ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–PEG₃–RM26 remained intact in mouse serum at 5 min after injection, while almost all of the ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–Aca–BBN_7–14 was degraded under the same conditions, demonstrating more-favorable in vivo pharmacokinetic properties and metabolic stabilities of the antagonist probe relative to its agonist counterpart. Overall, the antagonistic GRPR targeted probe ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–PEG₃–RM26 is a more-promising candidate than the agonist ⁶⁸Ga–NOTA–Aca–BBN_7–14 for the PET imaging of prostate cancer patients.

Amber-Compatible Parametrization Procedure for Peptide-like Compounds: Application to 1,4- and 1,5-Substituted Triazole-Based Peptidomimetics

Peptidomimetics are molecules of particular interest in the context of drug design and development. They are proteolytically and metabolically more stable than their natural peptide counterparts but still offer high specificity toward their biological targets. In recent years, 1,4- and 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole-based peptidomimetics have emerged as promising lead compounds for the design of various inhibitory and tumor-targeting molecules as well as for the synthesis of peptide analogues. The growing popularity of triazole-based peptidomimetics and a constantly broadening range of their application generated a demand for elaborate theoretical investigations by classical molecular dynamics simulations and molecular docking. Despite this rising interest, accurate and coherent force field parameters for triazole-based peptidomimetics are still lacking. Here, we report the first complete set of parameters dedicated to this group of compounds, named TZLff. This parametrization is compatible with the latest version of the AMBER force field (ff14SB) and can be readily applied for the modeling of pure triazole-based peptidomimetics as well as natural peptide sequences containing one or more triazole-based modifications in their backbone. The parameters were optimized to reproduce HF/6-31G* electrostatic potentials as well as MP2/cc-pVTZ equilibrium Hessian matrices and conformational potential energy surfaces through the use of a genetic algorithm-based search and least-squares fitting. Following the standards of AMBER, we introduce residue building units, thus allowing the user to define any given sequence of triazole-based peptidomimetics. Validation of the parameter set against ab initio- and NMR-based reference systems shows that we obtain fairly accurate results, which properly capture the conformational features of triazole-based peptidomimetics. The successful and efficient parametrization strategy developed in this work is general enough to be applied in a straightforward manner for parametrization of other peptidomimetics and, potentially, any polymeric assemblies.

Methoxinine - an alternative stable amino acid substitute for oxidation-sensitive methionine in radiolabelled peptide conjugates

Radiolabelled peptides with high specificity and affinity towards receptors that are overexpressed by tumour cells are used in nuclear medicine for the diagnosis (imaging) and therapy of cancer. In some cases, the sequences of peptides under investigations contain methionine (Met), an amino acid prone to oxidation during radiolabelling procedures. The formation of oxidative side products can affect the purity of the final radiopharmaceutical product and/or impair its specificity and affinity towards the corresponding receptor. The replacement of Met with oxidation resistant amino acid analogues, for example, norleucine (Nle), can provide a solution. While this approach has been applied successfully to different radiolabelled peptides, a Met → Nle switch only preserves the length of the amino acid side chain important for hydrophobic interactions but not its hydrogen-bonding properties. We report here the use of methoxinine (Mox), a non-canonical amino acid that resembles more closely the electronic properties of Met in comparison to Nle. Specifically, we replaced Met¹⁵ by Mox¹⁵ and Nle¹⁵ in the binding sequence of a radiometal-labelled human gastrin derivative [d-Glu¹⁰ ]HG(10-17), named MG11 (d-Glu-Ala-Tyr-Gly-Trp-Met-Asp-Phe-NH₂ ). A comparison of the physicochemical properties of ¹⁷⁷ Lu-DOTA[X¹⁵ ]MG11 (X = Met, Nle, Mox) in vitro (cell internalization/externalization properties, receptor affinity (IC₅₀ ), blood plasma stability and logD) showed that Mox indeed represents a suitable, oxidation-stable amino acid substitute of Met in radiolabelled peptide conjugates. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A mini review of the synthesis of poly-1,2,3-triazole-based functional materials

Most recent advances of the synthesis of poly-1,2,3-triazole-based functional materials.

Radiolabeled bombesin derivatives for preclinical oncological imaging

Despite efforts, cancer is still one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with approximately 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization. Among the strategies to reduce cancer progression and improving its management, implementing early detection technologies is crucial. Based on the fact that several types of cancer cells overexpress surface receptors, small molecule ligands, such as peptides, have been developed to allow tumor identification at earlier stages. Allied with imaging techniques such as PET and SPECT, radiolabeled peptides play a pivotal role in nuclear medicine. Bombesin, a peptide of 14 amino acids, is an amphibian homolog to the mammalian gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), that has been extensively studied as a targeting ligand for diagnosis and therapy of GRP positive tumors, such as breast, pancreas, lungs and prostate cancers. In this context, herein we provide a review of reported bombesin derivatives radiolabeled with a multitude of radioactive isotopes for diagnostic purposes in the preclinical setting. Moreover, since animal models are highly relevant for assessing the potential of clinical translation of this radiopeptides, a brief report of the currently used GRP-positive tumor-bearing animal models is described.

Glycated 99m Tc-Tricarbonyl-Labeled Peptide Conjugates for Tumor Targeting by "Click-to-Chelate"

Attaching polar pharmacological modifiers to molecular imaging probes is a common strategy to modulate their pharmacokinetic profiles to improve such parameters as the clearance rate of radiotracers and/or metabolites, and to enhance signal-to-background ratios. We combined the tumor-targeting peptide sequence of bombesin (BBN) with glucuronic acid and the single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) radionuclide ^99m Tc by the "click-to-chelate" methodology. The ^99m Tc-tricarbonyl-labeled glucuronated BBN conjugate was compared with a reference compound lacking the carbohydrate. The radiolabeled conjugates displayed similar characteristics in vitro (cell internalization, receptor affinity), but the hydrophilicity of the glycated version was significantly increased. While the tumor uptake of the two radioconjugates in xenografted mice was similar, the glycated peptide exhibited unexpected higher uptake in organs of the hepatobiliary excretion pathway than the more lipophilic reference compound. Control experiments suggest that this may be the result of unspecific accumulation of metabolites in which the glucuronic acid moiety does not act as an innocent pharmacological modifier.

Click Chemistry and Radiochemistry: The First 10 Years

The advent of click chemistry has had a profound influence on almost all branches of chemical science. This is particularly true of radiochemistry and the synthesis of agents for positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and targeted radiotherapy. The selectivity, ease, rapidity, and modularity of click ligations make them nearly ideally suited for the construction of radiotracers, a process that often involves working with biomolecules in aqueous conditions with inexorably decaying radioisotopes. In the following pages, our goal is to provide a broad overview of the first 10 years of research at the intersection of click chemistry and radiochemistry. The discussion will focus on four areas that we believe underscore the critical advantages provided by click chemistry: (i) the use of prosthetic groups for radiolabeling reactions, (ii) the creation of coordination scaffolds for radiometals, (iii) the site-specific radiolabeling of proteins and peptides, and (iv) the development of strategies for in vivo pretargeting. Particular emphasis will be placed on the four most prevalent click reactions-the Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), the strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC), the inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction (IEDDA), and the Staudinger ligation-although less well-known click ligations will be discussed as well. Ultimately, it is our hope that this review will not only serve to educate readers but will also act as a springboard, inspiring synthetic chemists and radiochemists alike to harness click chemistry in even more innovative and ambitious ways as we embark upon the second decade of this fruitful collaboration.

Preclinical Study on GRPR-Targeted (68)Ga-Probes for PET Imaging of Prostate Cancer

Gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) targeted positron emission tomography (PET) is a highly promising approach for imaging of prostate cancer (PCa) in small animal models and patients. Developing a GRPR-targeted PET probe with excellent in vivo performance such as high tumor uptake, high contrast, and optimal pharmacokinetics is still very challenging. Herein, a novel bombesin (BBN) analogue (named SCH1) based on JMV594 peptide modified with an 8-amino octanoic acid spacer (AOC) was thus designed and conjugated with the metal chelator 1,4,7-triazacyclononane,1-glutaric acid-4,7-acetic acid (NODAGA). The resulting NODAGA-SCH1 was then radiolabeled with (68)Ga and evaluated for PET imaging of PCa. Compared with (68)Ga-NODAGA-JMV594 probe, (68)Ga-NODAGA-SCH1 exhibited excellent PET/CT imaging properties on PC-3 tumor-bearing nude mice, such as high tumor uptake (5.80 ± 0.42 vs 3.78 ± 0.28%ID/g, 2 h) and high tumor/muscle contrast (16.6 ± 1.50 vs 8.42 ± 0.61%ID/g, 2 h). Importantly, biodistribution data indicated a relatively similar accumulation of (68)Ga-NODAGA-SCH1 was observed in the liver (4.21 ± 0.42%ID/g) and kidney (3.41 ± 0.46%ID/g) suggesting that the clearance is through both the kidney and the liver. Overall, (68)Ga-NODAGA-SCH1 showed promising in vivo properties and is a promising candidate for translation into clinical PET-imaging of PCa patients.