A novel route to radioiodinated [123I]-N-succinimidyl-3-iodobenzoate, a reagent for radioiodination of bioactive peptides

Radiolabeled peptides continue to emerge as potential radiopharmaceuticals for targeting several diseases such as cancer, infection and inflammation and even tissue and organ rejection. The classical method for labeling these molecules has been the electrophilic route. Evidence suggests that most molecules labeled via this route perturb their biological activity. Moreover, this method is not applicable to peptides lacking a tyrosine moiety in their structure. Hence, there is the need to develop alternate methods such as the prosthetic approach. We have optimized a solid-state radioiodination by exchange to produce [123I]-metaiodobenzylguanidine ([123I]-mIBG). The mIBG served as a precursor to obtain an activated N-succinimidyl ester for efficient coupling to amine functions in peptides, preferably the lysine group(s). The method was used to label a model chemotactic peptide and evaluated in vivo.