Purpose The current study presents [18F]PARPi as imaging agent for PARP1 expression. Procedures [18F]PARPi was generated by conjugating a 2H-phthalazin-1-one scaffold to 4-[18F]fluorobenzoic acid. Biochemical assays, optical in vivo competition, biodistribution analysis, positron emission tomography (PET)/X-ray computed tomography, and PET/ magnetic resonance imaging studies were performed in subcutaneous and orthotopic mouse models of glioblastoma. Results [18F]PARPi shows suitable pharmacokinetic properties for brain tumor imaging (IC50=2.8±1.1 nM; logPCHI=2.15±0.41; plasma-free fraction=63.9±12.6 %) and accumulates selectively in orthotopic brain tumor tissue. Tracer accumulation in subcutaneous brain tumors was 1.82±0.21 %ID/g, whereas in healthy brain, the uptake was only 0.04±0.01 %ID/g. Conclusions [18F]PARPi is a selective PARP1 imaging agent that can be used to visualize glioblastoma in xenograft and orthotopic mouse models with high precision and good signal/noise ratios. It offers new opportunities to non-invasively image tumor growth and monitor interventions.

Insufficient chemotherapy response and rapid disease progression remain concerns for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Oncologists rely on serial CT scanning to guide treatment decisions, but this cannot assess in vivo target engagement of therapeutic agents. Biomarker assessments in biopsy material do not assess contemporaneous target expression, intratumoral drug exposure, or drug-target engagement. Here, we report the use of PARP1/2-targeted imaging to measure target engagement of PARP inhibitors in vivo. Using a panel of clinical PARP inhibitors, we show that PARP imaging can quantify target engagement of chemically diverse small molecule inhibitors in vitro and in vivo. We measure PARP1/2 inhibition over time to calculate effective doses for individual drugs. Using patient-derived xenografts, we demonstrate that different therapeutics achieve similar integrated inhibition efficiencies under different dosing regimens. This imaging approach to non-invasive, quantitative assessment of dynamic intratumoral target inhibition may improve patient care through real-time monitoring of drug delivery.

The poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose)polymerase (PARP) family of enzymes is an important factor in the cellular DNA damage response and has gained much attention for its role in many diseases, particularly cancer. Targeted molecular imaging of PARP using fluorescent or radiolabeled tags has followed on the success of therapeutic inhibitors and gained momentum over the past few years. This review covers PARP imaging from the very first imaging agents up to the current state of the technology, with a focus on the clinical applications made possible by these agents.

Major determining factors for survival of patients with oral, oropharyngeal, and esophageal cancer are early detection, the quality of surgical margins, and the contemporaneous detection of residual tumor. Intuitively, the exposed location at the epithelial surface qualifies these tumor types for utilization of visual aids to assist in discriminating tumor from healthy surrounding tissue. Here, we explored the DNA repair enzyme PARP1 as imaging biomarker and conducted optical imaging in animal models, human tissues and as part of a first-in-human clinical trial. Our data suggests that PARP1 is a quantitative biomarker for oral, oropharyngeal, and esophageal cancer and can be visualized with PARPi-FL, a fluorescently labeled small molecule contrast agent for topical or intravenous delivery. We show feasibility of PARPi-FL-assisted tumor detection in esophageal cancer, oropharyngeal and oral cancer. We developed a contemporaneous PARPi-FL topical staining protocol for human biospecimens. Using fresh oral cancer tissues within 25 min of biopsy, tumor and margin samples were correctly identified with >95% sensitivity and specificity without terminal processing. PARPi-FL imaging can be integrated into clinical workflows, potentially providing instantaneous assessment of the presence or absence of microscopic disease at the surgical margin. Additionally, we showed first-in-human PARPi-FL imaging in oral cancer. In aggregate, our preclinical and clinical studies have the unifying goal of verifying the clinical value of PARPi-FL-based optical imaging for early detection and intraoperative margin assignment.

Purpose The current study presents [18F]PARPi-FL as a bimodal fluorescent/positron emission tomography (PET) agent for PARP1 imaging. Procedures [18F]PARPi-FL was obtained by 19F/18F isotopic exchange and PET experiments, biodistribution studies, surface fluorescence imaging, and autoradiography carried out in a U87 MG glioblastoma mouse model. Results [18F]PARPi-FL showed high tumor uptake in vivo and ex vivo in small xenografts (<2 mm) with both PET and optical imaging technologies. Uptake of [18F]PARPi-FL in blocked U87 MG tumors was reduced by 84 % (0.12±0.02 %injected dose/gram (%ID/g)), showing high specificity of the binding. PET imaging showed accumulation in the tumor (1 h p.i.), which was confirmed by ex vivo phosphor autoradiography. Conclusions The fluorescent component of [18F]PARPi-FL enables cellular resolution optical imaging, while the radiolabeled component of [18F]PARPi-FL allows whole-body deep-tissue imaging of malignant growth.

The DNA repair enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) is overexpressed in glioblastoma, with overall low expression in healthy brain tissue. Paired with the availability of specific small molecule inhibitors, PARP-1 is a near-ideal target to develop novel radiotherapeutics to induce DNA damage and apoptosis in cancer cells, while sparing healthy brain tissue. We synthesized anI-labeled PARP-1 therapeutic and investigated its pharmacology in vitro and in vivo. A subcutaneous tumor model was used to quantify retention times and therapeutic efficacy. A potential clinical scenario, intratumoral convection-enhanced delivery, was mimicked using an orthotopic glioblastoma model combined with an implanted osmotic pump system to study local administration of I-PARPi (PARPi is PARP inhibitor).I-PARPi is a 1(2H)-phthalazinone, similar in structure to the Food and Drug Administration-approved PARP inhibitor AZD-2281. In vitro studies have shown that I-PARPi and AZD-2281 share similar pharmacologic profiles.I-PARPi delivered 134.1 cGy/MBq intratumoral injected activity. Doses to nontarget tissues, including liver and kidney, were significantly lower. Radiation damage and cell death in treated tumors were shown by p53 activation in U87-MG cells transfected with a p53-bioluminescent reporter. Treated mice showed significantly longer survival than mice receiving vehicle (29 vs. 22 d, < 0.005) in a subcutaneous model. Convection-enhanced delivery demonstrated efficient retention of I-PARPi in orthotopic brain tumors, while quickly clearing from healthy brain tissue. Our results demonstrate I-PARPi's high potential as a therapeutic and highlight PARP's relevance as a target forradionuclide therapy. Radiation plays an integral role in brain tumor therapy, and radiolabeled PARP therapeutics could ultimately lead to improvements in the standard of care.

BackgroundFluorescent imaging agents are becoming evermore important in preclinical and clinical research. They do, however, suffer from poor tissue penetration, which makes optical fluorescence imaging incompatible with whole-body imaging techniques. The design of novel bimodal PET active and fluorescent tracers could therefore combine the benefits of optical imaging with radioactively labeled imaging probes. Herein, we report the synthesis and evaluation of a clickable 18F-labeled fluorescent dye.MethodsAn azide-modified BODIPY-Fl dye could be successfully radio-labeled with 18F using an 18F/19F exchange reaction of the boron-fluoride core of the BODIPY dye to yield a clickable bimodal PET/fluorescent imaging tool. In vitro as well as in vivo imaging (PET/fluorescence) using a bombesin analog was conducted to study the applicability of the dual-modality imaging probe.ResultsWe use the radio-labeled small molecule, 18F-BODIPY-azide to label site-specifically different targeted peptides, based on a standard modular labeling protocol. Following the synthesis of a bimodal bombesin analog, we determine the peptide tracer’s performance in vitro and in vivo, exploring both the optical as well as PET imaging capabilities.ConclusionThis versatile methodology has the potential to have a transformational impact on 18F radiotracer synthesis, opening the door for rapid screening of novel-labeled peptide tracers, both on the cellular (optical) as well as whole-body (PET) level.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13550-015-0120-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a childhood brainstem tumor with a universally poor prognosis. Here, we characterize on a positron emission tomography (PET) probe for imaging DIPG in vivo. In human histological tissues, the probes target, poly(ADP)ribose polymerase 1 (PARP1), was highly expressed in DIPG compared to normal brain. PET imaging allowed for the sensitive detection of DIPG in a genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM), and probe uptake correlated to histologically determined tumor infiltration. Imaging with the sister fluorescence agent revealed that uptake was confined to proliferating, PARP1 expressing cells. Comparison to other imaging technologies revealed remarkable accuracy of our biomarker approach. We subsequently demonstrated that serial imaging of DIPG in mouse models enables monitoring of tumor growth, as shown in modeling of tumor progression. Overall, this validated method for quantifying DIPG burden would serve useful in monitoring treatment response in early phase clinical trials.