The advancement of positron emission tomography (PET) depends on the development of new radiotracers that will
complement (18)F-FDG.
Copper-64 ((64)Cu) is a promising PET
radionuclide, particularly for antibody-targeted imaging, but the high in vivo lability of conventional chelates has limited its clinical application. The objective of this work was to evaluate the novel
chelating agent SarAr (1-N-(4-aminobenzyl)-3, 6,10,13,16,19-hexaazabicyclo[6.6.6]
eicosane-1,8-
diamine) for use in developing a new class of
tumor-specific (64)Cu
radiopharmaceuticals for imaging
neuroblastoma and
melanoma. The anti-GD2
monoclonal antibody (mAb) 14.G2a, and its chimeric derivative,
ch14.18, target
disialogangliosides that are overexpressed on
neuroblastoma and
melanoma. Both mAbs were conjugated to SarAr using
carbodiimide coupling. Radiolabeling with (64)Cu resulted in >95% of the (64)Cu being chelated by the
immunoconjugate. Specific activities of at least 10 microCi/microg (1 Ci = 37 GBq) were routinely achieved, and no additional purification was required after (64)Cu labeling. Solid-phase radioimmunoassays and intact cell-binding assays confirmed retention of bioactivity. Biodistribution studies in athymic nude mice bearing s.c.
neuroblastoma (IMR-6, NMB-7) and
melanoma (M21) xenografts showed that 15-20% of the injected dose per gram accumulated in the
tumor at 24 hours after injection, and only 5-10% of the injected dose accumulated in the liver, a lower value than typically seen with other
chelators. Uptake by a GD2-negative
tumor xenograft was significantly lower (<5% injected dose per gram). MicroPET imaging confirmed significant uptake of the tracer in GD-2-positive
tumors, with minimal uptake in GD-2-negative
tumors and nontarget tissues such as liver. The (64)Cu-SarAr-mAb system described here is potentially applicable to (64)Cu-PET imaging with a broad range of antibody or
peptide-based imaging agents.