Bombesin Encapsulated in Long-Circulating pH-Sensitive Liposomes as a Radiotracer for Breast Tumor Identification.

Bombesin (BBN) is a tetradecapeptide that binds specifically to gastrin-releasing peptide receptors in humans. These receptors are over-expressed in several forms of cancer; radiolabeled BBN could therefore be used to detect such cancers. However, the degradation of peptides is a critical issue in the development of tumor tracers.

Tumor bombesin analog loaded long-circulating and pH-sensitive liposomes as tool for tumor identification.

Long-circulating and pH-sensitive liposomes trapping (99m)Tc-HYNIC-βAla-bombesin((7-14)) (aSpHL-(99m)Tc-BBN((7-14))) were successfully prepared. Biodistribution studies and scintigraphic images were performed in Ehrlich tumor-bearing Swiss mice. This system showed high accumulation in tumor tissue with high tumor-to-muscle ratio.