Synthesis and in vivo evaluation of [11C]tucatinib for HER2-targeted PET imaging

[Display omitted] •[11C]tucatinib was designed and synthesized as a HER2 PET imaging agent•The compound was obtained in a 12 steps synthetic route•[11C]tucatinib was obtained in good radiochemical yield and high radiochemical purity•[11C]tucatinib showed high liver and intestinal uptake and low tumor uptake•Modifications of [11C]tucatinib are required to obtain a successful HER2 PET tracer Tucatinib is a selective human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2020 for HER2-positive lesions in metastatic breast cancer patients, including CNS metastases. In this article, we attempted to develop the first small molecule, blood–brain-barrier (BBB) penetrant HER2 PET imaging probe based on tucatinib. [11C]tucatinib was synthesized via a Stille-coupling from the respective trimethylstannyl precursor and its biodistribution was evaluated in NMRI nude mice bearing HER2-overexpressing human ovarian cancer cells (SKOV-3). No significant tumor accumulation was observed despite its high affinity for HER-2 receptors (IC50 = 6.9 nM). High liver and intestinal uptake indicate that [11C]tucatinib is too lipophilic to be used as a tumor targeting PET tracer. Therefore, chemical modifications of [11C]tucatinib are needed to increase the polarity for tumor imaging. Tucatinib as an FDA approved drug is still an interesting platform to develop the first small molecule HER2-selective PET tracer. The study highlights the differences between a drug, which needs to be effective, and an imaging agent, which is dependent on contrast.