Synthesis and preclinical characterization of 1-(6'-deoxy-6'-[
18F]fluoro-β-d-allofuranosyl)-2-nitroimidazole (β-6'-[
18F]FAZAL) as a positron emission tomography radiotracer to assess tumor hypoxia.
Bioorg Med Chem 2016;
24:5326-5339. [PMID:
27614920 DOI:
10.1016/j.bmc.2016.08.053]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2016] [Revised: 08/16/2016] [Accepted: 08/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Positron emission tomography (PET) using fluorine-18 (18F)-labeled 2-nitroimidazole radiotracers has proven useful for assessment of tumor oxygenation. However, the passive diffusion-driven cellular uptake of currently available radiotracers results in slow kinetics and low tumor-to-background ratios. With the aim to develop a compound that is actively transported into cells, 1-(6'-deoxy-6'-[18F]fluoro-β-d-allofuranosyl)-2-nitroimidazole (β-[18F]1), a putative nucleoside transporter substrate, was synthetized by nucleophilic [18F]fluoride substitution of an acetyl protected labeling precursor with a tosylate leaving group (β-6) in a final radiochemical yield of 12±8% (n=10, based on [18F]fluoride starting activity) in a total synthesis time of 60min with a specific activity at end of synthesis of 218±58GBq/μmol (n=10). Both radiolabeling precursor β-6 and unlabeled reference compound β-1 were prepared in multistep syntheses starting from 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-d-allofuranose. In vitro experiments demonstrated an interaction of β-1 with SLC29A1 and SLC28A1/2/3 nucleoside transporter as well as hypoxia specific retention of β-[18F]1 in tumor cell lines. In biodistribution studies in healthy mice β-[18F]1 showed homogenous tissue distribution and excellent metabolic stability, which was unaffected by tissue oxygenation. PET studies in tumor bearing mice showed tumor-to-muscle ratios of 2.13±0.22 (n=4) at 2h after administration of β-[18F]1. In ex vivo autoradiography experiments β-[18F]1 distribution closely matched staining with the hypoxia marker pimonidazole. In conclusion, β-[18F]1 shows potential as PET hypoxia radiotracer which merits further investigation.
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