PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Altai, Mohamed AU - Wållberg, Helena AU - Honarvar, Hadis AU - Strand, Joanna AU - Orlova, Anna AU - Varasteh, Zohreh AU - Sandström, Mattias AU - Löfblom, John AU - Larsson, Erik AU - Strand, Sven-Erik AU - Lubberink, Mark AU - Ståhl, Stefan AU - Tolmachev, Vladimir TI - <sup>188</sup>Re-Z<sub>HER2:V2</sub>, a Promising Affibody-Based Targeting Agent Against HER2-Expressing Tumors: Preclinical Assessment AID - 10.2967/jnumed.114.140194 DP - 2014 Nov 01 TA - Journal of Nuclear Medicine PG - 1842--1848 VI - 55 IP - 11 4099 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/55/11/1842.short 4100 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/55/11/1842.full SO - J Nucl Med2014 Nov 01; 55 AB - Affibody molecules are small (7 kDa) nonimmunoglobulin scaffold proteins with favorable tumor-targeting properties. Studies concerning the influence of chelators on biodistribution of 99mTc-labeled Affibody molecules demonstrated that the variant with a C-terminal glycyl-glycyl-glycyl-cysteine peptide–based chelator (designated ZHER2:V2) has the best biodistribution profile in vivo and the lowest renal retention of radioactivity. The aim of this study was to evaluate 188Re-ZHER2:V2 as a potential candidate for radionuclide therapy of human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)–expressing tumors. Methods: ZHER2:V2 was labeled with 188Re using a gluconate-containing kit. Targeting of HER2-overexpressing SKOV-3 ovarian carcinoma xenografts in nude mice was studied for a dosimetry assessment. Results: Binding of 188Re-ZHER2:V2 to living SKOV-3 cells was demonstrated to be specific, with an affinity of 6.4 ± 0.4 pM. The biodistribution study showed a rapid blood clearance (1.4 ± 0.1 percentage injected activity per gram [%ID/g] at 1 h after injection). The tumor uptake was 14 ± 2, 12 ± 2, 5 ± 2, and 1.8 ± 0.5 %IA/g at 1, 4, 24, and 48 h after injection, respectively. The in vivo targeting of HER2-expressing xenografts was specific. Already at 4 h after injection, tumor uptake exceeded kidney uptake (2.1 ± 0.2 %IA/g). Scintillation-camera imaging showed that tumor xenografts were the only sites with prominent accumulation of radioactivity at 4 h after injection. Based on the biokinetics, a dosimetry evaluation for humans suggests that 188Re-ZHER2:V2 would provide an absorbed dose to tumor of 79 Gy without exceeding absorbed doses of 23 Gy to kidneys and 2 Gy to bone marrow. This indicates that future human radiotherapy studies may be feasible. Conclusion: 188Re-ZHER2:V2 can deliver high absorbed doses to tumors without exceeding kidney and bone marrow toxicity limits.