Preparation and biological evaluation of [61Cu]bleomycin complex as a possible PET radiopharmaceutical in normal and fibrosarcoma-bearing animals

[61Cu]bleomycin ([61Cu]BLM) was prepared using [61Cu]CuCl2 produced via natZn(p,x)61Cu. [61Cu]BLM was prepared under optimized conditions (room temperature, 45 min, 0.1 mg bleomycin for 92.5–370 MBq 61CuCl2) with radiochemical purity over 98% shown by HPLC and RTLC. [61Cu]BLM was administered into normal and tumor bearing rodents up to 210 min followed by biodistribution and co-incidence imaging studies. A significant tumor/non tumor accumulation was observed either by animal sacrification or an imaging method. [61Cu]BLM can be a potential PET radiotracer for tumor imaging.