PET imaging of prostate cancer with ¹⁸F-Al-NODA-MATBBN

We explored the application of new bifunctional chelating agent p-SCN-NODA by conjugating to GRPR targeting peptide, MATBBN. p-SCN-NODA can increase the labeling yield to 68.3 ± 1.8 %. ¹⁸F-Al-NODA-MATBBN can be produced within 25 min with a radiochemical purity of more than 98 %. At 30 min post-injection, the tumor uptake for ¹⁸F-Al-NODA-MATBBN was 3.23 ± 0.23 % ID/g. Biodistribution studies revealed that ¹⁸F-Al-NODA-MATBBN was excreted mainly through the kidneys. GRPR-binding specificity was also demonstrated by reduced tumor uptake of ¹⁸F-Al-NODA-MATBBN after co-injection with excess unlabeled MATBBN peptide at 1 h post-injection. It suggests that ¹⁸F-Al-NODA-MATBBN may be a potential PET tracer candidate for monitoring prostate cancer. (author)