Synthesis and Evaluation of a Cathepsin B–Recognizing Trifunctional Chelating Agent to Improve Tumor Retention of Radioimmunoconjugates

Cathepsin B (CTSB) is a lysosomal protease that is overexpressed in tumor cells. Radioimmunoconjugates (RICs) composed of CTSB-recognizing chelating agents are expected to increase the molecular weights of their radiometabolites by forming conjugates with CTSB in cells, resulting in their improved retention in tumor cells. We designed a novel CTSB-recognizing trifunctional chelating agent, azide-[¹¹¹In]In-DOTA-CTSB-substrate ([¹¹¹In]In-ADCS), to synthesize a RIC, trastuzumab-[¹¹¹In]In-ADCS ([¹¹¹In]In-TADCS), and evaluated its utility to improve tumor retention of the RIC. [¹¹¹In]In-ADCS and [¹¹¹In]In-TADCS were synthesized with satisfactory yield and purity. [¹¹¹In]In-ADCS was markedly stable in murine plasma until 96 h postincubation. [¹¹¹In]In-ADCS showed binding to CTSB in vitro, and the conjugation was blocked by the addition of CTSB inhibitor. In the internalization assay, [¹¹¹In]In-TADCS exhibited high-level retention in SK-OV-3 cells, indicating the in vitro utility of the CTSB-recognizing unit. In the biodistribution assay, [¹¹¹In]In-TADCS showed high-level tumor accumulation, but the retention was hardly improved. In the first attempt to combine a CTSB-recognizing unit and RIC, these findings show the fundamental properties of the CTSB-recognizing trifunctional chelating agent to improve tumor retention of RICs.