Synthesis and pre-clinical evaluation of a new class of high-affinity (18)F-labeled PSMA ligands for detection of prostate cancer by PET imaging

PURPOSE: Current clinical imaging of PSMA-positive prostate cancer by positron emission tomography (PET) mainly features (68)Ga-labeled tracers, notably [(68)Ga]Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC. The longer half-life of fluorine-18 offers significant advantages over Ga-68, clinically and logistically. We aimed to develop high-affinity PSMA inhibitors labeled with fluorine-18 as alternative tracers for prostate cancer. METHODS: Six triazolylphenyl ureas and their alkyne precursors were synthesized from the Glu-urea-Lys PSMA binding moiety. PSMA affinity was determined in a competitive binding assay using LNCaP cells. The [(18)F]triazoles were isolated following a Cu(I)-catalyzed click reaction between the alkynes and [(18)F]fluoroethylazide. The (18)F-labeled compounds were evaluated in nude mice bearing LNCaP tumors and compared to [(68)Ga]Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC and [(18)F]DCFPyL. Biodistribution studies of the two tracers with the highest imaged-derived tumor uptake and highest PSMA affinity were undertaken at 1 h, 2 h and 4 h post-injection (p.i.), and co-administration of PMPA was used to determine whether uptake was PSMA-specific. RESULTS: F-18-labeled triazolylphenyl ureas were prepared with a decay-corrected RCY of 20–40 %, >98 % radiochemical and chemical purity, and specific activity of up to 391 GBq/μmol. PSMA binding (IC(50)) ranged from 3–36 nM. The position of the triazole influenced tumor uptake (3 > 4 > 2), and direct conjugation of the triazole with the phenylurea moiety was preferred to insertion of a spacer group. Image-derived tumor uptake ranged from 6–14 %ID/g at 2 h p.i., the time of maximum tumor uptake; uptake of [(68)Ga]Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC and [(18)F]DCFPyL was 5–6 %ID/g at 1–3 h p.i., the time of maximum tumor uptake. Biodistribution studies of the two most promising compounds gave maximum tumor uptakes of 10.9 ± 1.0 % and 14.3 ± 2.5 %ID/g, respectively, as compared to 6.27 ± 1.44 %ID/g for [(68)Ga]Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC. CONCLUSIONS: Six [(18)F]triazolylphenyl ureas were prepared in good radiochemical yield. Compounds showed PSMA-specific uptake in LNCaP tumors as high as 14 % ID/g, more than a 2-fold increase over [(68)Ga]Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC. The facile and high-yielding radiosynthesis of these (18)F-labeled triazoles as well as their promising in vitro and in vivo characteristics make them worthy of clinical development for PET imaging of prostate cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00259-016-3556-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.