Development and Evaluation of (99m)Tc Tricarbonyl Complexes Derived from Flutamide with Affinity for Androgen Receptor

With the objective to develop a potential (99m)Tc radiopharmaceutical for imaging the androgen receptor (AR) in prostate cancer, four ligands bearing the same pharmacophore derived from the AR antagonist flutamide were prepared, labeled with (99m)Tc, and their structures corroborated via comparison with the corresponding stable rhenium analogs. All complexes were obtained with high radiochemical purity. Three of the complexes were highly stable, and, due to their favorable physicochemical properties, were further evaluated using AR-positive and AR-negative cells in culture. All complexes exhibited considerable uptake in AR-positive cells, which could be blocked by an excess of flutamide. The efflux from the cells was moderate. They also showed significantly lower uptakes in AR-negative cells, indicating interactions with the AR receptor. However, the binding affinities were considerably reduced by the coordination to (99m)Tc, and the complex that exhibited the best biological behavior did not show sufficient specificity towards AR-positive cells.