Design and synthesis of 225Ac radioimmunopharmaceuticals

The alpha-particle-emitting radionuclides 213Bi, 211At, 224Ra are under investigation for the treatment of leukemias, gliomas, and ankylosing spondylitis, respectively. 213Bi and 211At were attached to monoclonal antibodies and used as targeted immunotherapeutic agents while unconjugated 224Ra chloride selectively seeks bone. 225Ac possesses favorable physical properties for radioimmunotherapy (10 d half-life and 4 net alpha particles), but has a history of unfavorable radiolabeling chemistry and poor metal-chelate stability. We selected functionalized derivatives of DOTA as the most promising to pursue from out of a group of potential 225Ac chelate compounds. A two-step synthetic process employing either MeO–DOTA–NCS or 2B–DOTA–NCS as the chelating moiety was developed to attach 225Ac to monoclonal antibodies. This method was tested using several different IgG systems. The chelation reaction yield in the first step was 93±8% radiochemically pure (n=26). The second step yielded 225Ac–DOTA–IgG constructs that were 95±5% radiochemically pure (n=27) and the mean percent immunoreactivity ranged from 25% to 81%, depending on the antibody used. This process has yielded several potential novel targeted 225Ac-labeled immunotherapeutic agents that may now be evaluated in appropriate model systems and ultimately in humans.