ABSTRACT
ß-galactosidase (ß-gal) has high activity in various malignancies, which is suitable for targeted positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Meanwhile, ß-gal can successfully guide the formation of nanofibers, which enhances the intensity of imaging and extends the imaging time. Herein, we designed a ß-galactosidase-guided self-assembled PET imaging probe [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1Gal. We envisage that ß-gal could recognize and cleave the target site, bringing about self-assembling to form nanofibers, thereby enhancing the PET imaging effect. The targeting specificity of [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1Gal for detecting ß-gal activity was examined using the control probe [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1. Micro-PET imaging showed that tumor regions of [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1Gal were visible after injection. And the tumor uptake of [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1Gal was higher than [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1 at all-time points. Our results demonstrated that the [68Ga]Nap-NOTA-1Gal can be used for the purpose of a new promising PET probe for helping diagnose cancer with high levels of ß-gal activity.
