Research Progress of 64Cu-Radiopharmaceuticals in Clinical Trial for Tumor Diagnosis

Abstract

Positron computed emission tomography (PET) is an important diagnosis and imaging tool for nuclear medicine with the advantages of high sensitivity, resolution, and safety. It is widely used in the diagnosis of tumors, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and so on. 64Cu nuclide has become the focus of research in the field of PET molecular probe and theranostic radiopharmaceuticals due to its suitable half-life (12.7 h), unique decay properties （β+, 0.653 MeV, 17.4%; β-, 0.579 MeV, 39%; electron capture） and the ability to form stable complexes with multiple ligands. Currently, more than 30 clinical studies of 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals are on going with focus on neuroendocrine tumors, prostate cancer and hypoxic tumors. The results of these clinical trials of 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals showed that 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals had high resolution, detection rate and good safety. In addition, the long half-life of 64Cu nuclide allows 64Cu nuclide and 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals to be transported to distant medical units, which is convenient for dose preparation and clinical practice. This paper selectively reviewed the progresses in clinical research conducted on 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals in the past decade, hoping to provide some references and ideas for the future research and development of 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals. It is expected that 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals will be approved for the diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumors, prostate cancer and other diseases in the near future.

Keywords

• 64cu-radiopharmaceuticals
• clinical trial
• neuroendocrine tumors
• hypoxia
• prostate cancer