Development and Use of Human Recombinant ⁶⁴Cu-rHCF as a Kidney Glomerulus-Targeted Contrast Agent for Positron...

In this work, we develop recombinant human cationic ferritin (rHCF) as a contrast agent to detect glomeruli in the kidney using positron emission tomography (PET). We first expressed recombinant human ferritin (rHF) in E. coli and then functionalized and radiolabeled it with Copper-64 (⁶⁴Cu) to form ⁶⁴Cu-rHCF. Intravenously injected ⁶⁴Cu-rHCF bound to kidney glomeruli and was detected by PET. A subchronic toxicity study after an intravenous injection of rHCF revealed no significant toxicity. The development of rHCF is an important step toward the potential clinical translation of CF to detect the nephron number in humans.