Patent ID: 7015306

Claim:
A peptide of structure CM-R 3 -(CA) n -AA 1 -AA 2 -AA 3 -AA4-AA 5 -AA 6 -OH, wherein said peptide has a selective affinity for neurotensin receptors and wherein CM is a chelating moiety or metal binding site; R 3 is D-lysine, D-phenylalanine, any D-amino acid, glycine-glycine-glycine, Gly-SerGly, Tyr-Glu-Asn, DTyr-Glu-Asn, Phe-Glu-Asn, DPhe-Glu-Asn, piperidinyl glycine, aminomethylcyclohexylalanine, amino acid containing a cycloalkyl ring at the α or β position with an amine group or an alkyl amino substituent either externally or as a part of the ring, or a spacer unit; CA is a cyclic amino acid selected from the group consisting of proline, hydroxyproline, 4-oxo-proline, pipecolic acid, azetidinecarboxylic acid, and other amino acid containing a cycloalkyl ring at the α- or β-position with an amine group or an alkyl amino substituent either externally or as a part of the ring; n=0, 1 or 2; AA 1 is an amino acid which comprises a guanidino group and wherein the α-carbon is either L- or D-, with the proviso that AA 1 is not arginine; AA 2 is arginine, lysine, piperidinylglycine, or other amino acid containing a cycloalkyl ring at the α- or β-position with an amine group or alkyl amino substituent either externally or as a part of the ring, wherein the amino acid can have the L- or D-configuration at the α-carbon, or AA 2 is an amino acid which comprises a guanidino group wherein α-carbon is either L- or D-; AA 3 is a cyclic amino acid selected from proline, hydroxyproline, 4-oxo-proline, pipecolic acid, azetidinecarboxylic acid, or other amino acid containing a cycloalkyl ring at the α- or β-position with an amine group or alkyl amino substituent either externally or as a part of the ring, wherein the amino acid can have the L- or D-configuration at the α-carbon; AA 4 is phenylalanine, tyrosine, an isomer of tyrosine, polyhydroxylated phenylalanine, or other aromatic amino acid, wherein the amino acid can have the L- or D-configuration at the α-carbon; AA 5 is isoleucine; and AA 6 is leucine.