A first-of-its-kind 18F pretargeted PET imaging approach based on the bioorthogonal inverse electron demand Diels–Alder (IEDDA) reaction between tetrazine (Tz) and trans-cyclooctene (TCO) is presented. As proof-of-principle, a TCO-bearing immunoconjugate of the anti-CA19.9 antibody 5B1 and an Al[18F]NOTA-labeled tetrazine radioligand were harnessed for the visualization of CA19.9-expressing BxPC3 pancreatic cancer xenografts. Biodistribution and 18F-PET imaging data clearly demonstrate that this methodology effectively delineates tumor mass with activity concentrations up to 6.4 %ID/g at 4 h after injection of the radioligand.

Zirconium-89 has an ideal half-life for use in antibody-based PET imaging; however, when used with the chelator DFO, there is an accumulation of radioactivity in the bone, suggesting that the 89Zr4+ cation is being released in vivo. Therefore, a more robust chelator for 89Zr could reduce the in vivo release and the dose to nontarget tissues. Evaluation of the ligand 3,4,3-(LI-1,2-HOPO) demonstrated efficient binding of 89Zr4+ and high stability; therefore, we developed a bifunctional derivative, p-SCN-Bn-HOPO, for conjugation to an antibody. A Zr-HOPO crystal structure was obtained showing that the Zr is fully coordinated by the octadentate HOPO ligand, as expected, forming a stable complex. p-SCN-Bn-HOPO was synthesized through a novel pathway. Both p-SCN-Bn-HOPO and p-SCN-Bn-DFO were conjugated to trastuzumab and radiolabeled with 89Zr. Both complexes labeled efficiently and achieved specific activities of approximately 2 mCi/mg. PET imaging studies in nude mice with BT474 tumors (n = 4) showed good tumor uptake for both compounds, but with a marked decrease in bone uptake for the 89Zr-HOPO-trastuzumab images. Biodistribution data confirmed the lower bone activity, measuring 17.0%ID/g in the bone at 336 h for 89Zr-DFO-trastuzumab while 89Zr-HOPO-trastuzumab only had 2.4%ID/g. We successfully synthesized p-SCN-Bn-HOPO, a bifunctional derivative of 3,4,3-(LI-1,2-HOPO) as a potential chelator for 89Zr. In vivo studies demonstrate the successful use of 89Zr-HOPO-trastuzumab to image BT474 breast cancer with low background, good tumor to organ contrast, and, importantly, very low bone uptake. The reduced bone uptake seen with 89Zr-HOPO-trastuzumab suggests superior stability of the 89Zr-HOPO complex.

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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for radiation induced hemorrhagic cystitis is an efficacious treatment modality for patients in whom other forms of management have failed.

Pretargeting offers a way to enhance target specificity while reducing off-target radiation dose to healthy tissue during payload delivery. We recently reported the development of an F-based pretargeting strategy predicated on the inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction as well as the use of this approach to visualize pancreatic tumor tissue in vivo as early as 1 h postinjection. Herein, we report a comprehensive structure: pharmacokinetic relationship study of a library of 25 novel radioligands that aims to identify radiotracers with optimal pharmacokinetic and dosimetric properties. This investigation revealed key relationships between molecular structure and in vivo behavior and produced two lead candidates exhibiting rapid tumor targeting with high target-to-background activity concentration ratios at early time points. We believe this knowledge to be of high value for the design and clinical translation of next-generation pretargeting agents for the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

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We report on physical and electrical characterization of ultrathin (3–10nm) high-κHfO2 gate stacks deposited on Ge(100) by atomic-layer deposition. It is observed that uniform films of HfO2 can be deposited on Ge without significant interfacial growth. The lack of an interlayer enables quasiepitaxial growth of HfO2 on the Ge surface after wet chemical treatment whereas a nitrided interface (grown by thermal oxynitridation in ammonia) results in an amorphous HfO2. The stacks exhibit surprisingly good thermal stability, up to temperatures only 150°C below the melting point of Ge. In terms of electrical properties, HfO2 on Ge shows significantly reduced (up to 4 decades) gate leakage currents in the ultrathin regime of equivalent electrical thickness down to ∼1.4nm due to the high-dielectric constant of ∼23. Nitrided interface is observed to be important for good insulating properties of the stack.