As a first step toward the development of 99m Tc PiB analogs, we have synthesized six neutral Re 2-phenylbenzothiazoles via pendant or integrated approach. These Re compounds bind to Aβ 1-40 fibrils with fairly good affinities (K i = 10.0-88.6 nM) and have moderate lipophilicities (logP C18 = 1.21-3.26). The Re compounds prepared via the integrated approach are smaller in size, and therefore their corresponding 99m Tc analogs would have a greater chance of crossing the blood-brain barrier well. For potential clinical applications, further optimization on the structure-activity relationship to obtain Re 2-phenylbenzothiazoles with higher binding affinities (<10 nM) might be needed. The integrated approach reported here to obtain neutral, compact and lipophilic Re 2-phenylbenzothiazoles could to be applied to other high affinity pharmacophores as well as to generate 99m Tc analogs that could hold promise for extending the use of Aβ imaging in living human brain to many more clinical settings because they could be used with SPECT.
KeywordsTechnetium-99m; Rhenium; SPECT; PiB; β-Amyloid plaques; Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by irreversible memory impairment, continuous cognitive decline and behavioral disturbances. The production and accumulation of β-amyloid peptides (Aβ) is believed to be pivotal to the pathogenesis and progression of AD 1 , and the formation of Aβ plaques precedes the appearance of clinical symptoms. 2 Research on the treatment of AD has focused on the anti-amyloid strategy and currently there are more than 10 anti-amyloid drugs in phase 1 to phase 3 clinical trials. 3 The development of Aβ plaque targeting radiotracers has enabled non-invasive imaging and quantification of Aβ deposition in living human brain. This technology could provide a useful tool for identifying preclinical cases of AD as candidates for early intervention and to follow the effectiveness of anti-amyloid therapy in individual patients. Among Aβ imaging agents 4-9 currently under clinical evaluation, 2-(4-[ 11 C]methylaminophenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole (Pittsburgh Compound-B, PiB) 5 has achieved highest signal-to-noise ratio, and has been adopted to perform AD-related research studies at more than 40 research centers worldwide. Unfortunately, due to its short half-life (20 min) the 11 C label on PiB limits its use to major academic PET (positron emission tomography) facilities with on-site cyclotrons and sophisticated radiochemistry laboratories. Derivatives of PiB 8 labeled with the longer halflife (110 min) radioisotope 18 F have recently been developed and could increase the availability of Aβ imaging to all PET facilities, but this still represents a minority of modern hospitals, as only a small fraction of hospitals have a PET scanner. However, many more hospitals have the Compound 1 (Table 1) was synthesized in three steps from 2-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole 19 as illustrated in Scheme 1. The dimethylamino subst...