Evaluation of DOTA-chelated neurotensin analogs with spacer-enhanced biological performance for neurotensin-receptor-1-positive tumor targeting

摘要

IntroductionNeurotensin receptor 1 (NTR1) is overexpressed in many cancers types. Neurotensin (NT), a 13 amino acid peptide, is the native ligand for NTR1 and exhibits high (nM) affinity to the receptor. Many laboratories have been investigating the development of diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals for NTR1-positive cancers based on the NT peptide. To improve the biological performance for targeting NTR1, we proposed NT analogs with 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) chelation system and different lengths of spacers.