Development of a Supermolecular Radionuclide-Drug Conjugate System for Integrated Radiotheranostics for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Radionuclide-drug conjugates (RDCs) designed from small molecule or nanoplatform shows complementary characteristics. We constructed a new RDC system with integrated merits of small molecule and nanoplatform-based RDCs. Erlotinib was labeled with 131 I to construct the bulk of RDC ( 131 I-ER). Floxuridine was mixed with 131 I-ER to develop a hydrogen bond-driving supermolecular RDC system ( 131 I-ER-Fu NPs). The carrier-free 131 I-ER-Fu NPs supermolecule not only demonstrated integrated merits of small molecule and nanoplatform-based RDC, including clear structure definition, stable quality control, prolonged circulation lifetime, enhanced tumor specificity and retention, and rapidly nontarget clearance, but also exhibited low biological toxicity and stronger antitumor effects. In vivo imaging also revealed its application for tumor localization of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and screening of patients suitable for epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) therapy. We considered that 131 I-ER-Fu NPs showed potentials as an integrated platform for the radiotheranostics of NSCLC.