Influence of the N -Terminal Composition on Targeting Properties of Radiometal-Labeled Anti-HER2 Scaffold Protein ADAPT6

摘要

Radionuclide-imaging-based stratification of patients to targeted therapies makes cancer treatment more personalized and therefore more efficient. Albumin-binding domain derived affinity proteins (ADAPTs) constitute a novel group of imaging probes based on the scaffold of an albumin binding domain (ABD). To evaluate how different compositions of the N-terminal sequence of ADAPTS influence their biodistribution, a series of human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)-binding ADAPT6 derivatives with different N-terminal sequences were created: GCH(6)DANS (2), GC(HE)(3)DANS (3), GCDEAVDANS (4), and GCVD.ANS(5). These were compared with the parental variant: GCSS(HE)(3)DEAVDANS (1). All variants were site-specifically conjugated with a maleimido-derivative of a DOTA chelator and labeled with In-III. Binding to HER2-expressing cells in vitro, in vivo biodistribution as well as targeting properties of the new variants were compared with properties of the In-III-labeled parental ADAPT variant 1 (In-III-DOTA-1). The composition of the N-terminal sequence had an apparent influence on biodistribution of ADAPT6 in mice. The use of a hexahistidine tag in (InD)-In-III-OTA-2 was associated with elevated hepatic uptake compared to the (HE)(3)-containing counterpart, In-III-DOTA-3. All new variants without a hexahistidine tag demonstrated lower uptake in blood, lung, spleen, and muscle compared to uptake in the parental variant. The best new variants, In-III-DOTA-3 and In-III-DOTA-5, provided tumor uptakes of 14.6 +/- 2.4 and 12.5 +/- 1.3% ID/g at 4 h after injection, respectively. The tumor uptake of In-III-DOTA-3 was significantly higher than the uptake of the parental In-III-DOTA-1 (9.1 +/- 2.0% ID/g). The tumor-to-blood ratios of 395 +/- 75 and 419 +/- 91 at 4 h after injection were obtained for In-III-DOTA-5 and (IIII)n-DOTA-3, respectively. In conclusion, the N-terminal sequence composition affects the biodistribution and targeting properties of ADAPT-based imaging probes, and its optimization may improve imaging contrast.