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Molecular Imaging of EGFR Kinase Activity in Tumors with 124I-Labeled Small Molecular Tracer and Positron Emission Tomography

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An Erratum to this article was published on 26 September 2006

Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase-specific radiolabeled tracers could provide the means for noninvasive and repetitive imaging of heterogeneity of EGFR expression and signaling activity in tumors in individual patients before and during therapy with EGFR signaling inhibitors. We developed the synthesis and 124I-radiolabeling of the (E)-But-2-enedioic acid [4-(3-[124I]iodoanilino)-quinazolin-6-yl]-amide-(3-morpholin-4-yl-propyl)-amide (morpholino-[124I]-IPQA), which selectively, irreversibly, and covalently binds the adenosine-triphosphate-binding site to the activated (phosphorylated) EGFR kinase, but not to the inactive EGFR kinase. The latter was demonstrated using in silico modeling with crystal structures of the wild type and different gain-of-function mutants of EGFR kinases. Also, this was demonstrated by selective radiolabeling of the EGFR kinase domain with morpholino-[131I]-IPQA in A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells and Western blot autoradiography. In vitro radiotracer accumulation and washout studies demonstrated a rapid accumulation and progressive retention postwashout of morpholino-[131I]-IPQA in A431 epidermoid carcinoma and in U87 human glioma cells genetically modified to express the EGFRvIII mutant receptor, but not in the wild-type U87MG glioma cells under serum-starved conditions. Using morpholino-[124I]-IPQA, we obtained noninvasive PET images of EGFR activity in A431 subcutaneous tumor xenografts, but not in subcutaneous tumor xenografts grown from K562 human chronic myeloid leukemia cells in immunocompromised rats and mice. Based on these observations, we suggest that PET imaging with morpholino-[124I]-IPQA should allow for identification of tumors with high EGFR kinase signaling activity, including brain tumors expressing EGFRvIII mutants and nonsmall-cell lung cancer expressing gain-of-function EGFR kinase mutants. Because of significant hepatobiliary clearance and intestinal reuptake of the morpholino-[124I]-IPQA, additional [124I]-IPQA derivatives with improved water solubility may be required to optimize the pharmacokinetics of this class of molecular imaging agents.

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Abbreviations

PET:

positron emission tomography

EGFR:

epidermal growth factor receptor

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported the U.S. Department of Energy grant DE-FG02-86ER60407 and by the National Institutes of Health grant P50-CA86438.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Diagnostic Imaging, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Unit 057, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    A. Pal, J. Balatoni, D. Maxwell, S. Soghomonyan, A. Shavrin, W. Bornmann & J. G. Gelovani

  2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    A. Glekas, M. Doubrovin, T. Beresten, L. Ageyeva, R. Finn & S. M. Larson

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  1. A. Pal
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  2. A. Glekas
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  3. M. Doubrovin
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Correspondence to J. G. Gelovani.

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A. Glekas, A. Pal, M. Doubrovin, and J. Balatoni contributed equally to this work.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11307-006-0067-y

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Pal, A., Glekas, A., Doubrovin, M. et al. Molecular Imaging of EGFR Kinase Activity in Tumors with 124I-Labeled Small Molecular Tracer and Positron Emission Tomography. Mol Imaging Biol 8, 262–277 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-006-0049-0

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