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Development of [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 for radioligand therapy of prostate cancer with a moderate level of PSMA expression

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Abstract

Purpose

Evans blue as an albumin binder has been widely used to improve pharmacokinetics and enhance tumor uptake of radioligands, including prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeting agents. The goal of this study is to develop an optimal Evans blue-modified radiotherapeutic agent that could maximize the absolute tumor uptake and tumor absorbed dose thus the therapeutic efficacy to allow treatment of tumors even with moderate level of PSMA expression.

Methods

[177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 was synthesized based on PSMA-targeting agent and Evans blue. Binding affinity and PSMA targeting specificity were verified through cell uptake and competition binding assay in 22Rv1 tumor model that has moderate level of PSMA expression. SPECT/CT imaging and biodistribution studies in 22Rv1 tumor-bearing mice were performed to evaluate the preclinical pharmacokinetics. Radioligand therapy studies were conducted to systematically assess the therapeutic effect of [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003.

Results

LNC1003 showed high binding affinity (IC50 = 10.77 nM) to PSMA in vitro, which was comparable with that of PSMA-617 (IC50 = 27.49 nM) and EB-PSMA-617 (IC50 = 7.91 nM). SPECT imaging of [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 demonstrated significantly improved tumor uptake and retention as compared with [177Lu]Lu-EB-PSMA and [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617, making it suitable for prostate cancer therapy. Biodistribution studies further confirmed the remarkably higher tumor uptake of [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 (138.87 ± 26.53%ID/g) over [177Lu]Lu-EB-PSMA-617 (29.89 ± 8.86%ID/g) and [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 (4.28 ± 0.25%ID/g) at 24 h post-injection. Targeted radioligand therapy results showed noteworthy inhibition of 22Rv1 tumor growth after administration of a single dose of 18.5 MBq [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003. There was no obvious antitumor effect after [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 treatment under the same condition.

Conclusion

In this study, [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 was successfully synthesized with high radiochemical purity and stability. High binding affinity and PSMA targeting specificity were identified in vitro and in vivo. With greatly enhanced tumor uptake and retention, [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 has the potential to improve therapeutic efficacy using significantly lower dosages and less cycles of 177Lu that promises clinical translation to treat prostate cancer with various levels of PSMA expression.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current research are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was founded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81901805, 21976150), Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91959122), Joint Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China—China National Nuclear Corporation for Nuclear Technology Innovation (U1967222), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (20720210115), the National University of Singapore Start-up Grant (NUHSRO/2020/133/Startup/08; NUHSRO/2021/097/Startup/13), NUS School of Medicine Nanomedicine Translational Research Programme (NUHSRO/2021/034/TRP/09/Nanomedicine).

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Author notes

  1. Xuejun Wen, Pengfei Xu, and Xinying Zeng contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular, Diagnostics & Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of PublicHealth, Xiamen University, 4221-116 Xiang’An South Rd, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Xuejun Wen, Xinying Zeng, Jia Liu, Chao Du, Xueyuan Zeng, Xingxing Cheng, Xueqi Wang, Yuanyuan Liang, Hongzhang Yang, Huifeng Li, Lingxin Meng, Jianyang Fang, Hongwu Liu, Zijian Zhou, Xianzhong Zhang & Zhide Guo

  2. Institute of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacology, Jining First People’s Hospital, Jining Medical University, Jining, 272000, China

    Pengfei Xu

  3. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119074, Singapore

    Pengfei Xu, Tianzhi Zhao, Jingjing Zhang & Xiaoyuan Chen

  4. Nanomedicine Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117597, Singapore

    Jingjing Zhang & Xiaoyuan Chen

  5. Clinical Imaging Research Centre, Centre for Translational Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599, Singapore

    Jingjing Zhang & Xiaoyuan Chen

  6. Departments of Surgery, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119074, Singapore

    Xiaoyuan Chen

  7. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore, 138673, Singapore

    Xiaoyuan Chen

Authors
  1. Xuejun Wen
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  2. Pengfei Xu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jingjing Zhang, Xianzhong Zhang, Zhide Guo or Xiaoyuan Chen.

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Animal experiments were approved by the animal care committee of Xiamen University (ID XMULAC20190157) and carried out in compliance with the national laws related to the conduct of animal experimentation. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Wen, X., Xu, P., Zeng, X. et al. Development of [177Lu]Lu-LNC1003 for radioligand therapy of prostate cancer with a moderate level of PSMA expression. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 50, 2846–2860 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-023-06229-w

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