Design and synthesis of novel metal complex-protein conjugation agents for applications in bio-imaging

Abstract

Targeting particular cells or tissues for imaging e.g. proliferative cells or for transporting drug molecules plays a vital role in cancer treatment and represents an area of high scientific interest. In order to contribute to a better detection of proliferative cells, a sophisticated metal-DOTA imaging agent was designed that is able to specifically interact with disulfide bridges of proteins by intercalating into accessible disulfide bridges via two sequential Michael addition-elimination reactions. Such DOTA-protein conjugates are highly versatile since they can be labeled with 68Ga for PET or paramagnetic metals such as Gd(?) for MR imaging. In addition, a folate-metal-DOTA conjugate has been prepared as well as a novel approach that facilitates somatostatin-metal-DOTA conjugates has been designed for targeted delivery and first attempts have been undertaken to achieve this challenging goal.