Synthesis, metal chelate stability studies, and enzyme digestion of a peptide-linked DOTA derivative and its corresponding radiolabeled immunoconjugates

By directly coupling a tetrapeptide to DOTA through an amide bond, we synthesized a novel DOTA derivative, DOTA-glycylglycylglycyl-L-p-nitrophenylalanine amide. We converted this new precursor bifunctional chelating agent to DOTA-glycylglycylglycyl-L-p-isothiocyanatophenylalanine++ + and conjugated it to monoclonal antibody Lym-1. Serum stability studies show that the radiolabeled conjugates are kinetically inert under physiological conditions. The rates of loss of radiometals in human serum are 0.1 +/- 0.1% per day for InIII, 0.02 +/- 0.15% per day for YIII, and 0.3 +/- 0.2% per day for CuII labeled immunoconjugates. In the presence of the liver enzyme cathepsin B, an in vitro digestion of 114mIn-labeled conjugate yields a small fragment containing 114mIn. Characterization of the cleavage products shows that this liver enzyme hydrolyzes the peptide linkage before the phenylalanine residue, freeing the In-DOTA-triglycine complex from the conjugate. However, the liver enzyme cathepsin D does not cleave the linkage over the span of 7 days.