Synthesis, radioiodination and in vivo screening of novel potent iodinated and fluorinated radiotracers as melanoma imaging and therapeutic probes

In order to develop new iodinated and fluorinated matched-pair radiotracers for Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)/Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging and targeted radionuclide therapy of melanoma, we successfully synthesized and radiolabelled with iodine-125 seven new derivatives, starting from our previously described lead structure 3. The relevance of these radiotracers for gamma scintigraphic imaging of melanoma in rodent was assessed. The tumoural radioactivity uptake was most often high and specific even at early time points (12.1–18.3% ID/g at 3 h p.i. for [125I]39–42) and a fast clearance from the non-target organs was observed. Also, calculated effective doses that could be delivered to tumours when using corresponding [131I]-labelled analogues were generally higher than 100 cGy/MBq injected (98.9–150.5 cGy/MBq for [131I]39–42). These results make compounds 39–42 suitable candidates for (i) PET imaging of melanoma after labelling with fluorine-18 and (ii) targeted radionuclide therapy of disseminated melanoma after labelling with iodine-131.