Comparison of the synthesis and biological properties of no-carrier-added and carrier-added 4-borono-2-[18F]fluorophenylalanine ([18F]FBPA)

Ting Yu Chang, Wen Yi Chang, Yi Wei Chen, Ming Che Ho, Chi Wei Chang, Sie Ong Lau, Nan Jing Peng, Chun Yi Wu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), an attractive strategy for cancer treatment, can kill tumor cells and avoid injury to surrounding healthy cells. 4-Borono-2-[18F]fluorophenylalanine ([18F]FBPA) positron emission tomography (PET) is a reliable tool for patient screening. Due to the relatively low radiochemical yield when employing the electrophilic route, this study was able to develop a new method to produce no-carrier-added (NCA) [18F]FBPA and compare the biological characteristics with carrier-added (CA) characteristics. Procedures: By starting from 4-bromo-2-nitrobenzaldehyde, NCA [18F]FBPA was prepared using radiofluorination, alkylation, borylation, and hydrolysis. Cellular uptake analyses, microPET imaging, and biodistribution analyses were conducted to characterize the biological properties of NCA and CA [18F]FBPA. Results: The radiochemical yield of NCA [18F]FBPA was 20 % ± 6 % (decay corrected) with a radiochemical purity of >98 % and molar activity of 56 ± 15 GBq/μmol in a 100-min synthesis. The in vitro accumulation was significantly higher for NCA [18F]FBPA than for CA [18F]FBPA in both SAS and CT-26 cells. However, no apparent differences in tumor uptake were observed between NCA and CA [18F]FBPA-injected tumor-bearing mice. Conclusions: We successfully prepared NCA [18F]FBPA through nucleophilic substitution and achieved improved radiochemical yield and purity. We also demonstrated the effects of the amount of nonradioactive FBPA on in vitro cellular uptake and in vivo imaging studies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108313
JournalNuclear Medicine and Biology
Volume116-117
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2023

Keywords

  • Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)
  • No-carrier-added (NCA)
  • Nucleophilic substitution
  • [F]FBPA

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