Comparison of DOTA and NODAGA as chelates for ⁶⁸Ga-labelled CDP1 as novel infection PET imaging agents

The cathelicidin-derived peptide (CDP1) is a human antimicrobial peptide that preferentially targets bacterial membranes in response to infection. CDP1 was functionalised with NODAGA and DOTA for complexation with gallium-68 to evaluate its potential as an infection imaging tracer. The synthesis of [68Ga]Ga–NODAGA–CDP1 and [68Ga]Ga–DOTA–CDP1 were optimised for pH, molarity, incubation time and temperature, and product purification. The integrity and protein binding were investigated employing [68Ga]GaCl3 and [68Ga]Ga–DOTA–TATE as internal references. [68Ga]Ga–NODAGA–CDP1 displayed good labelling properties with higher product yield compared to [68Ga]Ga–DOTA–CDP1. In contrast, [68Ga]Ga–DOTA–CDP1 showed better stability and is the preferred candidate for an in vivo investigation.