64Cu-PSMA-BCH: a new radiotracer for delayed PET imaging of prostate cancer

Abstract

Purpose: Develop a ⁶⁴Cu labeled radiopharmaceutical targeting prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and investigate its application for prostate cancer imaging.

Methods: ⁶⁴Cu-PSMA-BCH was prepared and investigated for stability, PSMA specificity, and micro-PET imaging. With the approval of Ethics Committee of Beijing Cancer Hospital (No. 2017KT97), PET/CT imaging in 4 patients with suspected prostate cancer was performed and the radiation dosimetry was estimated. Then, PSMA PET-ultrasound image-guided biopsies were performed on 3 patients and the fine needle aspirates were further performed for autoradiography and immunohistochemistry analysis.

Results: ⁶⁴Cu-PSMA-BCH was prepared with high radiochemical yield and stability. In vivo study showed higher uptake in PSMA ( +) 22Rv1 cells than PSMA ( -) PC-3 cells (5.59 ± 0.36 and 1.97 ± 0.22 IA%/10⁶ cells at 1 h). It accumulated in 22Rv1 tumor with increasing radioactivity uptake and T/N ratios from 1 to 24 h post-injection. In patients with suspected prostate cancer, SUVmax and T/N ratios increased within 24 h post-injection. Compared with image at 1 h post-injection, more tumor lesions were detected at 6 h and 24 h post-injection. The human organ radiation dosimetry showed gallbladder wall was most critical, liver and kidneys were followed, and the whole-body effective dose was 0.0292 mSv/MBq. Two fine needle aspirates obtained by PET-ultrasound-guided targeted biopsy showed high radioactive signal by autoradiography, with 100% PSMA expression in cytoplasm and 30% expression in nucleus.

Conclusion: ⁶⁴Cu-PSMA-BCH was PSMA specific and showed high stability in vivo with lower uptake in liver than ⁶⁴Cu-PSMA-617. Biodistribution in mice and PCa patients showed similar profile compared with other PSMA ligands and it was safe with moderate effective dosimetry. The increased tumor uptake and T/N ratios by delayed imaging may facilitate the detection of small lesions and guiding targeted biopsies.

Keywords: 64Cu-PSMA; Delayed imaging; PET/CT; Prostate cancer; Targeted biopsies.