Preliminary investigation of 48V-labeled VO(acac)2 for cancer imaging: An initial proof-of-concept study

In this preliminary study, a procedure for synthesizing novel PET radiotracer vanadium-48-labeled-vanadyl acetylacetonate was developed, including radioisotope production via cyclotron, separation of 48V, chelation as 48VO(acac)2, and assessment through in vitro cellular studies. We employed the beam-stop setup in a cyclotron as the target holder to irradiate titanium foils in the reaction of natTi (p,n)48V. The radioisotope production rate was 4.84 ± 0.67 μCi/μA-h. Overall radiochemical yield was 12.86 ± 0.51% with gamma-ray spectroscopy showing no detectable contaminant peaks. HPLC of 48VO(acac)2 showed a retention time (1:48) corresponding closely to that (1:50) of commercial VO(acac)2, verifying the successful synthesis of 48VO(acac)2. In vitro cellular studies demonstrated radiotracer uptake and saturation around 0.48 nM. These studies pave the way for improving methodologies and in vivo experiments, including imaging studies, in future investigations.