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Updated: May 30, 2026
Preparation and Evaluation of 99mTc-labeled Tridentate Chelates for Pre-targeting Using Bioorthogonal Chemistry
Published on: February 4, 2017
First ex vivo study demonstrating that 99mTc-NTP 15-5 radiotracer binds to human articular cartilage
Florent Cachin1, Stéphane Boisgard, Aurélien Vidal
1Nuclear Medicine Department, Jean Perrin Cancer Centre, Clermont-Ferrand, France. florent.cachin@cjp.fr
Purpose:
Preclinical data pointed to (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 as a good candidate for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of cartilaginous disease. We set out to investigate and quantify (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 ex vivo uptake by human articular cartilage relative to bone (99m)Tc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate (HMDP) radiotracer.
Methods:
Three osteoarthritic human tibial plateaux and four tibiofemoral joints were incubated with (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 and (99m)Tc-HMDP for 2 h. Affinity of tracers for cartilage was determined by visual analysis of SPECT/CT acquisitions and measurement of cartilage to cortical bone uptake ratios.
Results:
Cartilage to cortical bone uptake ratios were 3.90 ± 2.35 and 0.76 ± 0.24, respectively, for (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 and (99m)Tc-HMDP radiotracers. Visual analysis of fused SPECT/CT slices showed selective, intense (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 accumulation in articular cartilage, whereas (99m)Tc-HMDP binding was low. Interestingly, a cartilage defect visualized on CT was clearly associated with focal decreased uptake of (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5.
Conclusion:
The tracer (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 is of major interest for human cartilage molecular imaging and could find clinical applications in osteoarthritis staging and monitoring.
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