Development of new and selective (radio)metal-peptide conjugates for targeted therapy and diagnosis of high malignant cancers

Cancer is one of the most widespread diseases in the world. It is well-known that in tumor cells many receptors are overexpressed and can be considered valid biomarkers and consequently druggable targets for diagnosis and therapy. Medical research is constantly focused on finding more useful approaches to increase the chances of a positive outcome of the disease. The research activity carried out during the PhD course was focused on the design, synthesis and biological/structural characterization of various (radio)metal-peptides targeting overexpressed integrin and FSH receptors for imaging and therapy purposes. Different 99mTc-labeled peptides useful as probes in SPECT imaging were designed, synthesized and characterized. To prepare the [99mTc]-tagged derivative peptides two different labeling approaches were investigated. Selective Au-peptide bioconjugates as metallodrug delivery systems, were designed, synthesized and characterized. Furthermore, the design and synthesis of peptides carrying two different chelators (radio-hybrid approach), suitable for the contemporary accommodation of two different radionuclides for SPECT/PET imaging and therapy, simultaneously, were reported.