Translating Molecules into Imaging—The Development of New PET Tracers for Patients with Melanoma
Laetitia Vercellino,
Dorine de Jong,
Laurent Dercle,
Benoit Hosten,
Brian Braumuller,
Jeeban Paul Das,
Aileen Deng,
Antoine Moya-Plana,
Camry A’Keen,
Randy Yeh,
Pascal Merlet,
Barouyr Baroudjian,
Mary M. Salvatore,
Kathleen M. Capaccione
Affiliations
Laetitia Vercellino
Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Saint-Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Université Paris Cité and INSERM, UMR_S942 MASCOT, 75006 Paris, France
Dorine de Jong
Center for Cell Engineering, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
Laurent Dercle
Department of Radiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
Benoit Hosten
Faculté de Pharmacie de Paris, Université de Paris, Inserm UMR-S1144-Optimisation Thérapeutique en Neuropsychopharmacologie, 4 Avenue de l’Observatoire, 75006 Paris, France
Brian Braumuller
Department of Radiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
Jeeban Paul Das
Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
Aileen Deng
Novant Health Cancer Institute, Charlotte, NC 28144, USA
Antoine Moya-Plana
Head and Neck Oncology Department, Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, 94805 Villejuif, France
Camry A’Keen
Department of Radiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
Randy Yeh
Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
Pascal Merlet
Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Saint-Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Université Paris Cité and INSERM, UMR_S942 MASCOT, 75006 Paris, France
Barouyr Baroudjian
Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Saint-Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Université Paris Cité and INSERM, UMR_S942 MASCOT, 75006 Paris, France
Mary M. Salvatore
Department of Radiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
Kathleen M. Capaccione
Department of Radiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
Melanoma is a deadly disease that often exhibits relentless progression and can have both early and late metastases. Recent advances in immunotherapy and targeted therapy have dramatically increased patient survival for patients with melanoma. Similar advances in molecular targeted PET imaging can identify molecular pathways that promote disease progression and therefore offer physiological information. Thus, they can be used to assess prognosis, tumor heterogeneity, and identify instances of treatment failure. Numerous agents tested preclinically and clinically demonstrate promising results with high tumor-to-background ratios in both primary and metastatic melanoma tumors. Here, we detail the development and testing of multiple molecular targeted PET-imaging agents, including agents for general oncological imaging and those specifically for PET imaging of melanoma. Of the numerous radiopharmaceuticals evaluated for this purpose, several have made it to clinical trials and showed promising results. Ultimately, these agents may become the standard of care for melanoma imaging if they are able to demonstrate micrometastatic disease and thus provide more accurate information for staging. Furthermore, these agents provide a more accurate way to monitor response to therapy. Patients will be able to receive treatment based on tumor uptake characteristics and may be able to be treated earlier for lesions that with traditional imaging would be subclinical, overall leading to improved outcomes for patients.
