¹⁷⁷Lu-Labeled Bivalent Ligands of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen for Endoradiotherapy of Prostate Cancer

Recently, we developed a bivalent prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) radioligand ([F-18]AlF-Bi-PSMA), which showed higher tumor uptake and retention in PSMA-positive mouse models than the clinically used radioligands, [Ga-68]Ga-PSMA-11 and [F-18]PSMA-1007. Here, we developed two Lu-177-labeled bivalent PSMA ligands with (DOTA-Alb-Bi-PSMA) or without an albumin-binding motif (DOTA-Bi-PSMA) to enhance radiotherapeutic efficacy with minimal toxicity. The results demonstrated that both Lu-177-labeled bivalent radioligands showed good stability, high binding affinity, and PSMA-targeting specificity in vitro. Compared with [Lu-177]Lu-PSMA-617, both [Lu-177]Lu-Bi-PSMA and [Lu-177]Lu-Alb-Bi-PSMA showed a higher area under the curve (AUC) of tumor accumulation and superior therapeutic efficacy. However, [Lu-177]Lu-Alb-Bi-PSMA exhibited a dose-dependent increase in acute damage to kidneys. In terms of the radionuclide therapy efficacy and side effects, [Lu-177]Lu-Bi-PSMA exhibited well-balanced action with high tumor-to-organs AUC ratios, resulting in remarkable therapeutic efficacy and negligible side effects. These promising results warrant further investigations to achieve the clinical translation of [Lu-177]Lu-Bi-PSMA.