The role and future potential of fluorinated biomarkers in positron emission tomography

Importance of the field: Positron emission tomography (PET) is rapidly emerging as the functional imaging method of choice for in vivo imaging applications in a number of key areas of drug discovery and clinical pathology, but especially in oncology. One key limitation of PET is the requirement for rapid synthesis and purification of biomarker/drug molecules regiospecifically labelled with short-lived positron-emitting isotopes.Areas covered in this review: In this review, we focus on the role of 18F-labelled molecules in PET, presenting a perspective on the challenges associated with the synthesis and future clinical utility of a range of labelled small molecules and macromolecular structures. Further preclinical method development for the regiospecific synthesis of fluorinated biomarkers under mild conditions is required before a wide range of 18F-labelled molecules take their place alongside clinically established oncology biomarkers such as 18FDG and 18FLT.What the reader will gain: In this review, we...