School of Chemistry - Theses

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    Radiolabelled peptides and amino acids for PET imaging of cancer
    Farnsworth, Ashleigh Lilian ( 2019)
    Cell surface receptors, which are overexpressed in cancerous tumours, are feasible molecular targets for tumour imaging. The transmembrane G-protein coupled receptor CXCR4 is overexpressed in tumours and has a crucial role in organ-specific metastasis of tumour cells. Cyclic pentapeptides such as FC131 and analogues have been developed to bind with high affinity and specificity to CXCR4. Unfortunately, when FC131 is radiolabelled and evaluated as a PET imaging agent, it demonstrates high retention in the liver due to its lipophilic character. Sulfonation of aromatic groups, such as the phenolic group in tyrosine, results in a significant reduction of a peptide’s lipophilic character. Evaluation of sulfonated FC131 peptide analogues as PET imaging agents has been undertaken. In addition to radiolabelled peptides, PET imaging using amino acids has shown promise for tumour detection. 18F containing radiolabelled amino acids are transported across the cell membranes by amino acid transporter proteins. As such, several approaches to synthesise fluorothreonine, fluoroaspartic acid and fluorotyrosine analogues have been examined.