Scandium-44: Diagnostic Feasibility in Tumor-Related Angiogenesis
Angiogenesis-related cell-surface molecules, including integrins, aminopeptidase N, vascular endothelial growth factor, and gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR), play a crucial role in tumour formation. Radiolabelled imaging probes targeting angiogenic biomarkers serve as valuable vectors in tu...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/8/7400 |
| Summary: | Angiogenesis-related cell-surface molecules, including integrins, aminopeptidase N, vascular endothelial growth factor, and gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR), play a crucial role in tumour formation. Radiolabelled imaging probes targeting angiogenic biomarkers serve as valuable vectors in tumour identification. Nowadays, there is a growing interest in novel radionuclides other than gallium-68 (<sup>68</sup>Ga) or copper-64 (<sup>64</sup>Cu) to establish selective radiotracers for the imaging of tumour-associated neo-angiogenesis. Given its ideal decay characteristics (E<sub>β</sub><sup>+</sup><sub>average</sub>: 632 KeV) and a half-life (T<sub>1/2</sub> = 3.97 h) that is well matched to the pharmacokinetic profile of small molecules targeting angiogenesis, scandium-44 (<sup>44</sup>Sc) has gained meaningful attention as a promising radiometal for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. More recently, intensive research has been centered around the investigation of <sup>44</sup>Sc-labelled angiogenesis-directed radiopharmaceuticals. Previous studies dealt with the evaluation of <sup>44</sup>Sc-appended a<sub>v</sub>b<sub>3</sub> integrin–affine Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) tripeptides, GRPR-selective aminobenzoyl–bombesin analogue (AMBA), and hypoxia-associated nitroimidazole derivatives in the identification of various cancers using experimental tumour models. Given the tumour-related hypoxia- and angiogenesis-targeting capability of these PET probes, <sup>44</sup>Sc seems to be a strong competitor of the currently used positron emitters in radiotracer development. In this review, we summarize the preliminary preclinical achievements with <sup>44</sup>Sc-labelled angiogenesis-specific molecular probes. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |