In contrast, other signaling molecules examined do not demonstrate such dramatic changes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that both the ethanol-induced cranial neural crest cell death and the associated craniofacial growth defect can be rescued by application of Shh. These data suggest that craniofacial anomalies resulting from fetal alcohol exposure are caused at least partially by loss of Shh and subsequent neural crest cell death.

Reduction of Shh signaling after neural tube closure resulted in a transient decrease in neural tube cell proliferation and an extensive increase in cell death in the neural tube and neural crest, which in turn resulted in decreased head size. The phenotypes observed after reduction of Shh are similar to those observed after cranial neural crest ablation. Thus, our results demonstrate a role for Shh in coordinating the proliferation and survival of cells of the neural tube and cranial neural crest.

Affibody molecules are a new class of small (7 kDa) scaffold affinity proteins, which demonstrate promising properties as agents for in vivo radionuclide targeting. The Affibody scaffold is cysteine-free and therefore independent of disulfide bonds. Thus, a single thiol group can be engineered into the protein by introduction of one cysteine. Coupling of thiol-reactive bifunctional chelators can enable site-specific labeling of recombinantly produced Affibody molecules. In this study, the use of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-tris-acetic acid-10-maleimidoethylacetamide (MMA-DOTA) for 111 In-labeling of anti-HER2 Affibody molecules His 6-Z HER2:342-Cys and Z HER2:2395-Cys has been evaluated. The introduction of a cysteine residue did not affect the affinity of the proteins, which was 29 pM for His 6-Z HER2:342-Cys and 27 pM for Z HER2:2395-Cys, comparable with 22 pM for the parental Z HER2:342. MMA-DOTA was conjugated to DTT-reduced Affibody molecules with a coupling efficiency of 93% using a 1:1 molar ratio of chelator to protein. The conjugates were labeled with 111 In to a specific radioactivity of up to 7 GBq/mmol, with preserved binding for the target HER2. In vivo, the non-His-tagged variant 111 In-[MMA-DOTA-Cys61]-Z HER2:2395-Cys demonstrated appreciably lower liver uptake than its His-tag-containing counterpart. In mice bearing HER2-expressing LS174T xenografts, 111 In-[MMA-DOTA-Cys61]-Z HER2:2395-Cys showed specific and rapid tumor localization, and rapid clearance from blood and nonspecific compartments, leading to a tumor-to-blood-ratio of 18 +/- 8 already 1 h p.i. Four hours p.i., the tumor-to-blood ratio was 138 +/- 8. Xenografts were clearly visualized already 1 h p.i.

Affibody molecules are a class of small (ca. 7 kDa) robust scaffold proteins suitable for radionuclide molecular imaging of therapeutic targets in vivo. A hexahistidine tag at the N-terminus streamlines development of new imaging probes by enabling facile purification using immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC), as well as convenient [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+)-labeling. However, previous studies in mice have demonstrated that Affibody molecules labeled by this method yield higher liver accumulation of radioactivity, compared to the same tracer lacking the hexahistidine tag and labeled by an alternative method. Two variants of the HER2-binding Affibody molecule Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂ were made in an attempt to create a tagged tracer that could be purified by immobilized metal affinity chromatography, yet would not result in anomalous hepatic radioactivity accumulation following labeling with [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+). In one construct, the hexahistidine tag was moved to the C-terminus. In the other construct, every second histidine residue in the hexahistidine tag was replaced by the more hydrophilic glutamate, resulting in a HEHEHE-tag. Both variants, denoted Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂-H₆ and (HE)₃-Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂, respectively, could be efficiently purified using IMAC and stably labeled with [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+) and were subsequently compared with the parental H₆-Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂ having an N-terminal hexahistidine tag. All three variants were demonstrated to specifically bind to HER2-expressing cells in vitro. The hepatic accumulation of radioactivity in a murine model was 2-fold lower with [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+)-Z(HER2:342)-H₆ compared to [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+)-H₆-Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂, and more than 10-fold lower with [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+)-(HE)₃-Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂. These differences translated into appreciably superior tumor-to-liver ratio for [⁹⁹(m)Tc(CO)₃](+)-(HE)₃-Z(HER)₂(:)₃₄₂ compared to the alternative conjugates. This information might be useful for development of other scaffold-based molecular imaging probes.