In Vivo Stabilization of a Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Receptor Antagonist Enhances PET Imaging and Radionuclide Therapy of Prostate Cancer in Preclinical Studies

A single tool for early detection, accurate staging, and personalized treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) would be a major breakthrough in the field of PCa. Gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) targeting peptides are promising probes for a theranostic approach for PCa overexpressing GRPR. However, the successful application of small peptides in a theranostic approach is often hampered by their fast in vivo degradation by proteolytic enzymes, such as neutral endopeptidase (NEP). Here we show for the first time that co-injection of a NEP inhibitor (phosphoramidon (PA)) can lead to an impressive enhancement of diagnostic sensitivity and therapeutic efficacy of the theranostic (68)Ga-/(177)Lu-JMV4168 GRPR-antagonist. Co-injection of PA (300 µg) led to stabilization of (177)Lu-JMV4168 in murine peripheral blood. In PC-3 tumor-bearing mice, PA co-injection led to a two-fold increase in tumor uptake of (68)Ga-/(177)Lu-JMV4168, 1 h after injection. In positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with (68)Ga-JMV4168, PA co-injection substantially enhanced PC-3 tumor signal intensity. Radionuclide therapy with (177)Lu-JMV4168 resulted in significant regression of PC-3 tumor size. Radionuclide therapy efficacy was confirmed by production of DNA double strand breaks, decreased cell proliferation and increased apoptosis. Increased survival rates were observed in mice treated with (177)Lu-JMV4168 plus PA as compared to those without PA. This data shows that co-injection of the enzyme inhibitor PA greatly enhances the theranostic potential of GRPR-radioantagonists for future application in PCa patients.