[en] BACKGROUND: (S)-4-(3-18F-Fluoropropyl)-ʟ-glutamic acid ([18F]FSPG) is a positron emission tomography radiotracer used to image system xc-, an antiporter that is upregulated in several cancers. Not only does imaging system xc- with [18F]FSPG identify tumours, but it can also provide an early readout of response and resistance to therapy. Unfortunately, the clinical production of [18F]FSPG has been hampered by a lack of robust, cGMP-compliant methods. Here, we report the automated synthesis of [18F]FSPG on the Trasis AllinOne™, overcoming previous limitations to provide a user-friendly method ready for clinical adoption.
RESULTS: The optimised method provided [18F]FSPG in 33.5 ± 4.9% radiochemical yield in just 35 min when starting with 18-25 GBq. Importantly, this method could be scaled up to > 100 GBq starting activity with only a modest reduction in radiochemical yield, providing [18F]FSPG with a molar activity of 372 ± 65 GBq/µmol and excellent radiochemical purity (96.8 ± 1.1%). The formulated product was stable when produced with these high starting activities.
CONCLUSIONS: We have developed the first automated synthesis of [18F]FSPG on the Trasis AllinOne™. The method produces [18F]FSPG with excellent radiochemical purity and in high amounts suitable for large clinical trials and off-site distribution. The method expands the number of synthesis modules capable of producing [18F]FSPG and has been carefully designed for cGMP compliance to simplify regulatory approval for clinical production. The methods developed for the purification of high-activity [18F]FSPG are transferrable and should aid the development of clinical [18F]FSPG productions on other synthesis modules.
Disciplines :
Chemistry
Author, co-author :
Farooq, Rizwan; School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, St Thomas' Hospital, London, SE1 7EH, UK
Gendron, Thibault ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Chimie organique-nucléaire
Edwards, Richard S; School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, St Thomas' Hospital, London, SE1 7EH, UK. richard.edwards@kcl.ac.uk
Witney, Timothy H ; School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, St Thomas' Hospital, London, SE1 7EH, UK. tim.witney@kcl.ac.uk
Language :
English
Title :
Compact and cGMP-compliant automated synthesis of [18F]FSPG on the Trasis AllinOne™.
Wellcome Trust Guy's Cancer Charity Rosetrees Trust
Funding text :
This study was funded by a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship (220221/Z/20/Z). Additional financial support was provided from Guys Cancer Charity (grant number C220204), Rosetrees Trust (grant number PGL23/100049), and The Medical Research Council (grant number MR/Y008421/1).
Z. Aizhi L. Daniel S. Hyunsuk Metabolic positron emission tomography imaging in cancer detection and therapy response Semin Oncol 38 1 55 69 10.1053/j.seminoncol.2010.11.012
S. Baek C.M. Choi S.H. Ahn J.W. Lee G. Gong J.S. Ryu et al. Exploratory clinical trial of (4S)-4-(3-[18F]fluoropropyl)-L-glutamate for imaging xC- transporter using positron emission tomography in patients with non-small cell lung or breast cancer Clin Cancer Res 18 19 5427 5437 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC38XhsFSgurzK 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-0214 22893629
S. Bannai T. Ishii A novel function of glutamine in cell culture: utilization of glutamine for the uptake of cystine in human fibroblasts J Cell Physiol 137 2 360 366 1:CAS:528:DyaL1MXltFyn 10.1002/jcp.1041370221 2903864
A. Bansal M.C. Simon Glutathione metabolism in cancer progression and treatment resistance J Cell Biol 217 7 2291 2298 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC1cXhvFGntb3N 10.1083/jcb.201804161 29915025 6028537
G. Brown D. Soloviev D.Y. Lewis Radiosynthesis and analysis of (S)-4-(3-[(18)F]Fluoropropyl)-L-Glutamic acid Mol Imaging Biol 25 3 586 595 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB3sXhtFaluw%3D%3D 10.1007/s11307-022-01793-3 36525163
M.F. Cheng Y.Y. Huang B.Y. Ho T.C. Kuo L.W. Hsin C.Y. Shiue et al. Prospective comparison of (4S)-4-(3-(18)F-fluoropropyl)-L-glutamate versus (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT for detecting metastases from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a proof-of-concept study Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 46 4 810 820 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC1MXntFKhu7o%3D 10.1007/s00259-018-4251-5 30635754
M. Domercq B. Szczupak J. Gejo V. Gomez-Vallejo D. Padro K.B. Gona et al. PET imaging with [(18)F]FSPG evidences the role of system xc(-) on brain inflammation following cerebral ischemia in rats Theranostics 6 11 1753 1767 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC28XhvFersrvN 10.7150/thno.15616 27570548 4997234
R. Edwards H.E. Greenwood G. McRobbie I. Khan T.H. Witney Robust and facile automated radiosynthesis of [(18)F]FSPG on the GE FASTlab Mol Imaging Biol 23 6 854 864 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB3MXhtFKks7zO 10.1007/s11307-021-01609-w 34013395 8578107
H.E. Greenwood P.N. McCormick T. Gendron M. Glaser R. Pereira O.D.K. Maddocks et al. Measurement of tumor antioxidant capacity and prediction of chemotherapy resistance in preclinical models of ovarian cancer by positron emission tomography Clin Cancer Res 25 8 2471 2482 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-3423 30651275 6522377
H.E. Greenwood R. Edwards N. Koglin M. Berndt F. Baark J. Kim et al. Radiotracer stereochemistry affects substrate affinity and kinetics for improved imaging of system x(C)(-) in tumors Theranostics 12 4 1921 1936 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB38XmslCmsL0%3D 10.7150/thno.63237 35198080 8825600
Greenwood HE, Barber AR, Edwards RS, Tyrrell WE, George ME, dos Santos SN, et al. Imaging NRF2 activation in non-small cell lung cancer with positron emission tomography. Nat Commun. 2024;15:10484
S. Gurung O.V. Timmermand D. Perocheau A.L. Gil-Martinez M. Minnion L. Touramanidou et al. mRNA therapy corrects defective glutathione metabolism and restores ureagenesis in preclinical argininosuccinic aciduria Sci Transl Med. 16 729 eadh1334 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB2cXhsFelsrs%3D 10.1126/scitranslmed.adh1334 38198573 7615535
C. Huang J. McConathy Radiolabeled amino acids for oncologic imaging J Nucl Med 54 7 1007 1010 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC3sXht1Witr%2FK 10.2967/jnumed.112.113100 23708197
G. Kavanaugh J. Williams A.S. Morris M.L. Nickels R. Walker N. Koglin et al. Utility of [18F]FSPG PET to image hepatocellular carcinoma: first clinical evaluation in a US population Mol Imag Biol 18 6 924 934 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC28Xhs1SktbbI 10.1007/s11307-016-1007-0
N. Koglin A. Mueller M. Berndt H. Schmitt-Willich L. Toschi A.W. Stephens et al. Specific PET imaging of xC-transporter activity using a (1)(8)F-labeled glutamate derivative reveals a dominant pathway in tumor metabolism Clin Cancer Res 17 18 6000 6011 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC3MXhtFOitb%2FO 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-11-0687 21750203
M. Lin R.T. Ta H.C. Manning Simplified and highly-reliable automated production of [(18)F]FSPG for clinical studies EJNMMI Radiopharm Chem 8 1 15 10.1186/s41181-023-00200-8 37486582 10366059
J. Liu X. Xia P. Huang xCT: a critical molecule that links cancer metabolism to redox signaling Mol Ther 28 11 2358 2366 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB3cXit12ksLnM 10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.08.021 32931751 7647670
S.C. Lu Regulation of glutathione synthesis Mol Aspects Med 30 1–2 42 59 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD1MXltFelu78%3D 10.1016/j.mam.2008.05.005 18601945
A. Luengo D.Y. Gui M.G. Vander Heiden Targeting metabolism for cancer therapy Cell Chem Biol 24 9 1161 1180 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC2sXhsFGgurfO 10.1016/j.chembiol.2017.08.028 28938091 5744685
D.A. Mankoff J.F. Eary J.M. Link M. Muzi J.G. Rajendran A.M. Spence et al. Tumor-specific positron emission tomography imaging in patients: [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose and beyond Clin Cancer Res 13 12 3460 3469 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD2sXmsFCqtLs%3D 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-07-0074 17575208
A. Martín N. Vázquez-Villoldo V. Gómez-Vallejo D. Padro F.N. Soria B. Szczupak et al. In vivo imaging of system xc- as a novel approach to monitor multiple sclerosis Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 43 6 1124 1138 10.1007/s00259-015-3275-3 26659901
J. McConathy M.M. Goodman Non-natural amino acids for tumor imaging using positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography Cancer Metastasis Rev 27 4 555 573 10.1007/s10555-008-9154-7 18648909
P.N. McCormick H.E. Greenwood M. Glaser O.D.K. Maddocks T. Gendron K. Sander et al. Assessment of tumor redox status through (S)-4-(3-[(18)F]fluoropropyl)-L-Glutamic Acid PET imaging of system x(c) (-) activity Cancer Res 79 4 853 863 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC1MXovFCgurk%3D 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-2634 30401715
E.S. Mittra N. Koglin C. Mosci M. Kumar A. Hoehne K.V. Keu et al. Pilot preclinical and clinical evaluation of (4S)-4-(3-[18F]Fluoropropyl)-L-Glutamate (18F-FSPG) for PET/CT Imaging of intracranial malignancies PLoS ONE 11 2 e0148628 10.1371/journal.pone.0148628 26890637 4758607
A.R. Pantel D. Ackerman S.C. Lee D.A. Mankoff T.P. Gade Imaging cancer metabolism: underlying biology and emerging strategies J Nucl Med 59 9 1340 1349 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC1MXjsFWms7Y%3D 10.2967/jnumed.117.199869 30042161 6126440
S.Y. Park S.J. Na M. Kumar C. Mosci M. Wardak N. Koglin et al. Clinical evaluation of (4S)-4-(3-[(18)F]Fluoropropyl)-L-glutamate ((18)F-FSPG) for PET/CT imaging in patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent prostate cancer Clin Cancer Res 26 20 5380 5387 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB3cXisFCku7rJ 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-0644 32694158
K. Sambasivan W.E. Tyrrell R. Farooq J. Mynerich R.S. Edwards M. Tanc et al. [(18)F]FSPG-PET provides an early marker of radiotherapy response in head and neck squamous cell cancer Npj Imaging 2 1 28 10.1038/s44303-024-00038-y 39132311 11315666
M. Seo Y. Kim B.D. Ye S.H. Park S.Y. Kim J.H. Jung et al. PET imaging of system x(C) (-) in immune cells for assessment of disease activity in mice and patients with inflammatory bowel disease J Nucl Med 63 10 1586 1591 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB38XivVanurvI 10.2967/jnumed.121.263289 35086893 9536706
A.R. Sharkey N. Koglin E.S. Mittra S. Han G.J.R. Cook T.H. Witney Clinical [18F]FSPG positron emission tomography imaging reveals heterogeneity in tumor-associated system xc—activity Cancers 16 7 1437 1:CAS:528:DC%2BB2cXpt1Gksrk%3D 10.3390/cancers16071437 38611114 11011143
L.M. Smith H.E. Greenwood W.E. Tyrrell R.S. Edwards V. de Santis F. Baark et al. The chicken chorioallantoic membrane as a low-cost, high-throughput model for cancer imaging npj Imaging. 1 1 1 10.1038/s44303-023-00001-3 38239706 7615542
M. Wardak I. Sonni A.P. Fan R. Minamimoto M. Jamali N. Hatami et al. (18)F-FSPG PET/CT imaging of system x(C)(-) transporter activity in patients with primary and metastatic brain tumors Radiology 303 3 620 631 10.1148/radiol.203296 35191738