International audienc

Purpose Currently, the most commonly used chelator for labelling antibodies with 89 Zr for immunoPET is desferrioxamine B (DFO). However, preclinical studies have shown that the limited in vivo stability of the 89 Zr-DFO complex results in release of 89 Zr, which accumulates in mineral bone. Here we report a novel chelator DFOcyclo*, a preorganized extended DFO derivative that enables octacoordination of the 89 Zr radiometal. The aim was to compare the in vitro and in vivo stability of [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFOcyclo*, [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFO* and [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFO. Methods The stability of 89 Zr-labelled chelators alone and after conjugation to trastuzumab was evaluated in human plasma and PBS, and in the presence of excess EDTA or DFO. The immunoreactive fraction, IC 50 , and internalization rate of the conjugates were evaluated using HER2-expressing SKOV-3 cells. The in vivo distribution was investigated in mice with subcutaneous HER2 + SKOV-3 or HER2 − MDA-MB-231 xenografts by PET/CT imaging and quantitative ex vivo tissue analyses 7 days after injection. Results 89 Zr-labelled DFO, DFO* and DFOcyclo* were stable in human plasma for up to 7 days. In competition with EDTA, DFO* and DFOcyclo* showed higher stability than DFO. In competition with excess DFO, DFOcyclo*-trastuzumab was significantly more stable than the corresponding DFO and DFO* conjugates ( p < 0.001). Cell binding and internalization were similar for the three conjugates. In in vivo studies, HER2 + SKOV-3 tumour-bearing mice showed significantly lower bone uptake ( p < 0.001) 168 h after injection with [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFOcyclo*-trastuzumab (femur 1.5 ± 0.3%ID/g, knee 2.1 ± 0.4%ID/g) or [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFO*-trastuzumab (femur 2.0 ± 0.3%ID/g, knee 2.68 ± 0.4%ID/g) than after injection with [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFO-trastuzumab (femur 4.5 ± 0.6%ID/g, knee 7.8 ± 0.6%ID/g). Blood levels, tumour uptake and uptake in other organs were not significantly different at 168 h after injection. HER2 − MDA-MB-231 tumour-bearing mice showed significantly lower tumour uptake ( p < 0.001) after injection with [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFOcyclo*-trastuzumab (16.2 ± 10.1%ID/g) and [ 89 Zr]Zr-DFO-trastuzumab (19.6 ± 3.2%ID/g) than HER2 + SKOV-3 tumour-bearing mice (72.1 ± 14.6%ID/g and 93.1 ± 20.9%ID/g, respectively), while bone uptake was similar. Conclusion 89 Zr-labelled DFOcyclo* and DFOcyclo*-trastuzumab...

The stability of thiol bonding on the surface of star-shaped gold nanoparticles was studied as a function of temperature in water and in a set of biologically relevant conditions. The stability was evaluated by monitoring the release of a model fluorescent dye, Bodipy-thiol (BDP-SH), from gold nanostars (GNSs) cocoated with poly(ethylene glycol) thiol (PEG-SH). The increase in the BDP-SH fluorescence emission, quenched when bound to the GNSs, was exploited to this purpose. A maximum 15% dye release in aqueous solution was found when the bulk temperature of gold nanostars solutions was increased to T = 42 °C, the maximum physiological temperature. This fraction reduces 3-5% for temperatures lower than 40 °C. Similar results were found when the temperature increase was obtained by laser excitation of the near-infrared (NIR) localized surface plasmon resonance of the GNSs, which are photothermally responsive. Besides the direct impact of temperature, an increased BDP-SH release was observed upon changing the chemical composition of the solvent from pure water to phosphate-buffered saline and culture media solutions. Moreover, also a significant fraction of PEG-SH was released from the GNS surface due to the increase in temperature. We monitored it with a different approach, that is, by using a coating of α-mercapto-ω-amino PEG labeled with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate on the amino group, that after heating was separated from GNS by ultracentrifugation and the released PEG was determined by spectrofluorimetric techniques on the supernatant solution. These results suggest some specific limitations in the use of the gold-thiolate bond for coating of nanomaterials with organic compounds in biological environments. These limitations come from the duration and the intensity of the thermal treatment and from the medium composition and could also be exploited in biological media to modulate the in vivo release of drugs.

The synthesis and the photophysical studies of the first bodipy-DOTA and its In(III), Ga(III) and Cu(II) complexes are reported. The introduction of an isothiocyanate handle generates a new bimodal imaging agent capable of both optical and nuclear imaging.

Dual-labeled biomolecules constitute a new generation of bioconjugates with promising applications in therapy and diagnosis. Unfortunately, the development of these new families of biologics is hampered by the technical difficulties associated with their construction. In particular, the site specificity of the conjugation is critical as the number and position of payloads can have a dramatic impact on the pharmacokinetics of the bioconjugate. Herein, we introduce dichlorotetrazine as a trivalent platform for the selective double modification of proteins on cysteine residues. This strategy is applied to the dual labeling of albumin with a macrocyclic chelator for nuclear imaging and a fluorescent probe for fluorescence imaging.

A new family of water-soluble and bioconjugatable aza-BODIPY fluorophores was designed and synthesized using a boron-functionalization strategy. These dissymmetric bis-ammonium aza-BODIPY dyes present optimal properties for a fluorescent probe; i.e., they are highly water-soluble, very stable in physiological medium; they do not aggregate in PBS, possess high quantum yield; and finally, they can be easily bioconjugated to antibodies. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies were performed for one of these fluorophores to image PD-L1 (Programmed Death-Ligand 1), highlighting the high potential of these new probes for future in vivo optical imaging studies.

A new BODIPY-phosphane was synthesized and proved to be a versatile tool for imaging organometallic complexes. It also led to easy access to a new family of theranostics, featuring gold, ruthenium and osmium complexes. The compounds' cytotoxicity was tested on cancer cells, and their cell uptake was followed by fluorescence microscopy in vitro.

Improved bifunctional chelating agents (BFC) are required for indium-111 radiolabeling of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) under mild conditions to yield stable, target-specific agents. 2,2',2"-(10-(2,6-Dioxotetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-yl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-triyl)triacetic acid (DOTAGA-anhydride) was evaluated for mAb conjugation and labeling with indium-111. The DOTA analogue was synthesized and conjugated to trastuzumab-which targets the HER2/neu receptor-in mild conditions (PBS pH 7.4, 25 °C, 30 min) and gave a mean degree of conjugation of 2.6 macrocycle per antibody. Labeling of this immunoconjugate with indium-111 was performed in 75% yield after 1 h at 37 °C, and the proportion of (111)In-DOTAGA-trastuzumab reached 97% after purification. The affinity of DOTAGA-trastuzumab was 5.5 ± 0.6 nM as evaluated by in vitro saturation assays using HCC1954 breast cancer cell line. SPECT/CT imaging and biodistribution studies were performed in mice bearing breast cancer BT-474 xenografts. BT-474 tumors were clearly visualized on SPECT images at 24, 48, and 72 h postinjection. The tumor uptake of [(111)In-DOTAGA]-trastuzumab reached 65%ID/g 72 h postinjection. These results show that the DOTAGA BFC appears to be a valuable tool for biologics conjugation.