Universal solid support synthesis of modified oligonucleotides labeled by click chemistry for PET studies

Introduction: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a high-resolution, sensitive, molecular and functional imaging technique that permits repeated, non invasive assessment and quantification of specific biological and pharmacological processes in humans[1]. In regard to its physical and nuclear characteristics, fluorine-18 appears often as the radionuclide of choice for the preparation of short-lived positron-emitter radiotracers[2]. F-18 labelling reaction of biomolecules such as peptides[3], oligosaccharides, and oligonucleotides[4] (ONs) requires very mild reaction conditions. The method of choice for a highly efficient fluorine-18-labelling of ONs is today the conjugation of a prosthetic group, carrying the radioisotope, with a reactive function of the ONs. Methods: For the ligation reaction of the prosthetic group with the ONs, we selected click reaction and more particularly the CuI catalyzed formation of 1,2,3-triazole using Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of terminal alkynes with azides. This reaction is highly regioselective leading to 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles and can be performed in different solvents with very high yield[5-7]. Conjugations with ONs are usually performed at 3’-ends using a well chosen linker in order to limit degradation by exonucleases[8]. Here we report the synthesis of an alkyne-bearing linker which can be attached at 3’-ends to any sequence of ONs. Results: The linker was prepared in two steps by reaction of commercially available (R)-(+)--hydroxy--butyrolactone with propargylamine followed by protection of the primary hydroxyl with the 4,4’-dimethoxytrityl group[9]. The second step is the reaction with succinic anhydride to obtain a carboxylic function which can be attached to the Amino-SynBase CPG. The resin load was 80 µmol/g. Conclusions: We have prepared a new universal linker which allows introducing an alkyne function at the 3’-end of ONs. This alkyne modified ONs can then react under click conditions with an azide function of a prosthetic group carrying the fluorine radioisotope. As prosthetic group, we selected the 1-azido-4-(3-[18F]fluoropropoxy)benzene which is fully automated produce in our lab[10]. The further results of radiosynthesis of this prosthetic group and the results of click reactions will be presented. Acknowledgement: The authors wish to thank Teller N. from Eurogentec (Seraing, Belgium) for oligonucleotide synthesis. The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Oligopet Projet of the Walloon Region.OligoPE