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Cheung P, Zhang B, Puuvuori E, Estrada S, Amin MA, Ye S, Korsgren O, Odell LR, Eriksson J, Eriksson O
Biomedicines 9 (4) - [2021-04-16; online 2021-04-16]
A validated imaging marker for beta-cell mass would improve understanding of diabetes etiology and enable new strategies in therapy development. We previously identified the membrane-spanning protein GPR44 as highly expressed and specific to the beta cells of the pancreas. The selective GPR44 antagonist MK-7246 was radiolabeled with carbon-11 and the resulting positron-emission tomography (PET) tracer [11C]MK-7246 was evaluated in a pig model and in vitro cell lines. The [11C]MK-7246 compound demonstrated mainly hepatobiliary excretion with a clearly defined pancreas, no spillover from adjacent tissues, and pancreatic binding similar in magnitude to the previously evaluated GPR44 radioligand [11C]AZ12204657. The binding could be blocked by preadministration of nonradioactive MK-7246, indicating a receptor-binding mechanism. [11C]MK-7246 showed strong potential as a PET ligand candidate for visualization of beta-cell mass (BCM) and clinical translation of this methodology is ongoing.
PubMed 33923731
DOI 10.3390/biomedicines9040434
Crossref 10.3390/biomedicines9040434
pmc: PMC8073488
pii: biomedicines9040434