To explore the feasibility of pretargeting technique for immunoPET with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody in EGFR positive/negative tumor bearing mice.

Cetuximab-Trans-cyclooctene (TCO)was obtained by modifying Cetuximab with TCO-N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). 2, 2′-((6-amino-1-(4, 7-bis-(carboxymethyl)-1, 4, 7-triazonan-1-yl)hexan-2-yl)azanediyl)-diacetic acid (L-NETA)was used as a chelating agent to prepare the radioligand ⁶⁸Ga-L-NETA-tetrazine (Tz), then the labeling rate and in vitro stability of the product were determined. Human basal breast cancer cells MDA-MB-468 (EGFR+ ) and MDA-MB-231 (EGFR-) were cultured in vitro. In vitro experiments were performed to explore the specificity of the probe and the feasibility of pretargeting technique. Nude mice (Balb/c-nu) bearing xenografts of the above two cell lines were established. Cetuximab-TCO (50 μg) was injected into the tumor-bearing mice in advance, then ⁶⁸Ga-L-NETA-Tz was injected at different time points (48, 36, 24 and 12 h), and pretargeting was realized through " click chemistry" . Small-animal PET imaging and biodistribution were performed to evaluate pharmacokinetic properties and specificity of the probe. The one-way analysis of variance was used to compare the data.

The ⁶⁸Ga-L-NETA-Tz molecular probe was successfully prepared with the labeling yield >95%, and the radiochemical purity was >95% after 2 h. Cetuximab-TCO and ⁶⁸Ga-L-NETA-Tz were added to MDA-MB-468 cells successively, and the cell uptake rate reached (0.69±0.04)% at 1 h, which demonstrated the feasibility of the pretargeting technique. PET imaging and biodistribution results showed that the best imaging results were obtained in 36 h pre-injection group, in which the tumor uptake was the highest ((0.77±0.05) percentage activity of injection dose per gram of tissue (%ID/g), 1 h) and the tumor/muscle ratio was optimal (4.67±0.46); the tumor uptake in the blocking group, the group without injecting Cetuximab-TCO, and the MDA-MB-231 group were significantly lower ((0.35±0.01), (0.39±0.05), (0.45±0.10) %ID/g; F=15.50, P=0.002).

EGFR targeted immunoPET imaging is successfully performed in mouse models of breast cancer by injecting Cetuximab-TCO and ⁶⁸Ga-L-NETA-Tz successively. It provides an effective method for immunoPET imaging of monoclonal antibodies.

Antibodies, monoclonal; Receptor, epidermal growth factor; Click chemistry; Isotope labeling; Gallium radioisotopes; Positron-emission tomography; Breast neoplasms; Mice, nude