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Imaging COX‐2 expression in cancer using PET/SPECT radioligands: current status and future directions
Author(s) -
Pacelli A.,
Greenman J.,
Cawthorne C.,
Smith G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of labelled compounds and radiopharmaceuticals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.432
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1099-1344
pISSN - 0362-4803
DOI - 10.1002/jlcr.3160
Subject(s) - positron emission tomography , single photon emission computed tomography , emission computed tomography , medicine , nuclear medicine , spect imaging , molecular imaging , medical physics , in vivo , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Abstract The role of cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2 as a driving force in early tumourigenesis and the current interest in the combination of COX‐2 inhibitors with standard therapy in clinical trials creates an urgent need to establish clinically relevant diagnostic tests for COX‐2 expression. Molecular imaging using small‐molecule probes radiolabelled for both positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) offers the potential to meet this need, providing a minimally invasive readout for the whole disease burden. This review summarises current approaches to the radiolabelling of small‐molecule COX‐2 inhibitors and their analogues for PET and SPECT imaging, and gives an overview of their biological evaluation and likely success of clinical application.