ABSTRACT
Metabolomics offers new insights into disease mechanisms that is enhanced when adopting orthogonal instrumental platforms to expand metabolome coverage, while also reducing false discoveries by independent replication. Herein, we report the first inter-method comparison when using multisegment injection-capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (MSI-CE-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for characterizing the serum metabolome of patients with liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (n = 20) and non-HCV controls (n = 14). In this study, 60 and 30 serum metabolites were detected frequently (>75%) with good technical precision (median CV < 10%) from serum filtrate samples (n = 34) when using standardized protocols for MSI-CE-MS and NMR, respectively. Also, 20 serum metabolite concentrations were consistently measured by both methods over a 500-fold concentration range with an overall mean bias of 9.5% (n = 660). Multivariate and univariate statistical analyses independently confirmed that serum choline and histidine were consistently elevated (p < 0.05) in HCV patients with late-stage (F2-F4) as compared to early-stage (F0-F1) liver fibrosis. Overall, the ratio of serum choline to uric acid provided optimal differentiation of liver disease severity (AUC = 0.848, p = 0.00766) using a receiver operating characteristic curve, which was positively correlated with liver stiffness measurements by ultrasound imaging (r = 0.606, p = 0.0047). Moreover, serum 5-oxo-proline concentrations were higher in HCV patients as compared to non-HCV controls (F = 4.29, p = 0.0240) after adjustment for covariates (age, sex, BMI), indicative of elevated oxidative stress from glutathione depletion with the onset and progression of liver fibrosis. Both instrumental techniques enable rapid yet reliable quantification of serum metabolites in large-scale metabolomic studies with good overlap for biomarker replication. Advantages of MSI-CE-MS include greater metabolome coverage, lower operating costs, and smaller sample volume requirements, whereas NMR offers a robust platform supported by automated spectral and data processing software.
ABSTRACT
C-X-C chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) is highly expressed in cancers, contributing to proliferation, metastasis, and a poor prognosis. The noninvasive imaging of CXCR4 can enable the detection and characterization of aggressive cancers with poor outcomes. Currently, no 18F-labeled CXCR4 positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer has demonstrated imaging contrast comparable to [68Ga]Ga-Pentixafor, a CXCR4-targeting radioligand. We, therefore, aimed to develop a high-contrast CXCR4-targeting radiotracer by incorporating a hydrophilic linker and trifluoroborate radioprosthesis to LY2510924, a known CXCR4 antagonist. A carboxy-ammoniomethyl-trifluoroborate (PepBF3) moiety was conjugated to the LY2510924-derived peptide possessing a triglutamate linker via amide bond formation to obtain BL08, whereas an alkyne ammoniomethyl-trifluoroborate (AMBF3) moiety was conjugated using the copper-catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition click reaction to obtain BL09. BL08 and BL09 were radiolabeled with [18F]fluoride ion using 18F-19F isotope exchange. Pentixafor was radiolabeled with [68Ga]GaCl3. Side-by-side PET imaging and biodistribution studies were performed on immunocompromised mice bearing Daudi Burkitt lymphoma xenografts. The biodistribution of [18F]BL08 and [18F]BL09 showed tumor uptake at 2 h postinjection (p.i.) (5.67 ± 1.25%ID/g and 5.83 ± 0.92%ID/g, respectively), which were concordant with the results of PET imaging. [18F]BL08 had low background activity, providing tumor-to-blood, -muscle, and -liver ratios of 72 ± 20, 339 ± 81, and 14 ± 3 (2 h p.i.), respectively. [18F]BL09 behaved similarly, with ratios of 64 ± 20, 239 ± 72, and 17 ± 3 (2 h p.i.), respectively. This resulted in high-contrast visualization of tumors on PET imaging for both radiotracers. [18F]BL08 exhibited lower kidney uptake (2.2 ± 0.5%ID/g) compared to [18F]BL09 (7.6 ± 1.0%ID/g) at 2 h p.i. [18F]BL08 and [18F]BL09 demonstrated higher tumor-to-blood, -muscle, and -liver ratios compared to [68Ga]Ga-Pentixafor (18.9 ± 2.7, 95.4 ± 36.7, and 5.9 ± 0.7 at 2 h p.i., respectively). In conclusion, [18F]BL08 and [18F]BL09 enable high-contrast visualization of CXCR4 expression in Daudi xenografts. Based on high tumor-to-organ ratios, [18F]BL08 may prove a valuable new tool for CXCR4-targeted PET imaging with potential for translation. The use of a PepBF3 moiety is a new approach for the orthogonal conjugation of organotrifluoroborates for 18F-labeling of peptides.
