Synthesis of [11C]interleukin 8 using a cell-free translation system and L-[11C]methionine

Positron emission tomography (PET), which requires a compound labeled with a positron emitter radioisotope as an imaging probe, is one of the most useful and valuable imaging modalities in molecular imaging. It has several advantages over other imaging modalities, particularly in sensitive and quantitative investigations of molecular functions and processes in vivo. Recent advances in biopharmaceuticals development have increased interest in practical methods for proteins and peptides labeling with positron emitter radioisotope for PET molecular imaging. Here, we propose a novel approach for preparing positron emitter-labeled proteins and peptides based on biochemical synthesis using a reconstituted cell-free translation system. In this study, [(11)C]interleukin 8 (IL-8; MW 9.2 kDa) was successfully synthesized by the cell-free system in combination with l-[(11)C]methionine. The in vitro biochemical reaction proceeded smoothly and gave maximum radioactivity of [(11)C]IL-8 at 20 min with a radiochemical yield of 63%. Purification of [(11)C]IL-8 was achieved by conventional cation exchange and ultrafiltration methods, resulting in enough amount of radioactivity with excellent radiochemical purity (>95%) for small-animal imaging. This study clearly demonstrates that cell-free protein production system combined with positron emitter-labeled amino acid holds great promise as a novel approach to prepare radiolabeled proteins and peptides for PET imaging.