Synthesis and biological evaluation of ^(18)F-FB-NGA as a hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor PET imaging agent

Asialoglycoprotein receptor(ASGP-R)is a hepatic membrane receptor that uniquely exists on the surface of mammalian hepatocytes,and has been used as target of liver functional imaging agents for many years.We labeled the Galactosyl-neoglycoalbumin(NGA)with 18F to get a PET molecular probe 18F-FB-NGA and evaluated its ability as a liver functional PET imaging agent.The 18F-FB-NGA was prepared with NGA by conjugation with Nsuccinimidyl-4-18F-fluorobenzoate(18F-SFB)and purified with PD-10 desalting column.The radiolabeling yield and radiochemical purity of 18F-FB-NGA were determined by radio-HPLC.Starting with 18F-F–,the total time for 18F-FB-NGA was about 120±10 min.The decay-corrected radiochemical yield is about 25–30%.The radiochemical purity of purified 18F-FB-NGA was more than 98%.Labeled with 185–1850 MBq 18F-SFB,the specific activity of 18F-FBNGA was estimated to be 7.83–78.3 TBq/mmol.Biodistribution of 18F-FB-NGA in normal mice was investigated after injection through the tail vein.The results showed that the liver accumulated 39.47±3.42 and 12.12±6.11%ID/g at 10 and 30 min after injection,respectively.Dynamic MicroPET images in mice were acquired with and without block after injection of the radiotracer,respectively.High liver activity accumulation was observed at 5 min after injection in normal group.On the contrary,the liver accumulation was significantly lower after block,indicating the specific binding to ASGP-R.18F-FB-NGA is probably a potential PET liver imaging agent.

Abstract Asialoglycoprotein receptor （ASGP-R） is a hepatic membrane receptor that uniquely exists on the surface of mammalian hepatocytes, and has been used as target of liver functional imaging agents for many years. We labeled the Galactosyl-neoglycoalbumin （NGA） with 18F to get a PET molecular probe 18F-FB-NGA and evaluated its ability as a liver functional PET imaging agent. The 18F-FB-NGA was prepared with NGA by conjugation with N- succinimidyl-4-18F-fluorobenzoate （18F-SFB） and purified with PD-10 desalting column. The radiolabeling yield and radiochemical purity of 18F-FB-NGA were determined by radio-HPLC. Starting with 18F-F-, the total time for 18F-F/3 -NGA was about 120± 10 min. The decay-corrected radiochemical yield is about 25-30%. The radiochemical purity of purified 18F-FB-NGA was more than 98%. Labeled with 185-1850 MBq 18F-SFB, the specific activity of 18F -FB- NGA was estimated to be 7.8-78.3 TBq/mmol. Biodistribution of 18F-FB-NGA in normal mice was investigated after injection through the tail vein. The results showed that the liver accumulated 39.47±3.42 and 12.12±6.11%ID/g at 10 and 30 min after injection, respectively. Dynamic MicroPET images in mice were acquired with and without block after injection of the radiotracer, respectively. High liver activity accumulation was observed at 5 min after injection in normal group. On the contrary, the liver accumulation was significantly lower after block, indicating the specific binding to ASGP-R. J SF-FB-NGA is probably a potential PET liver imaging agent.