The latest developments in imaging of fibroblast activation protein

Annette Altmann, Uwe Haberkorn, Jens Siveke

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

170 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP), a membrane-anchored peptidase, is highly expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts in more than 90% of epithelial tumors and contributes to progression and worse prognosis of different cancers. Therefore, FAP is considered a promising target for radionuclide-based approaches for diagnosis and treatment of tumors and for the diagnosis of nonmalignant diseases associated with a remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Accordingly, a variety of quinolone-based FAP inhibitors (FAPIs) coupled to chelators were developed displaying specific binding to human and murine FAP with a rapid and almost complete internalization. Because of a high tumor uptake and a very low accumulation in normal tissues, as well as a rapid clearance from the circulation, a high contrast is obtained for FAPI PET/CT imaging even at 10 min after tracer administration. Moreover, FAPI PET/CT provides advantages over 18F-FDG PET/CT in several tumor entities for initial staging and detection of tumor recurrence and metastases, including peritonitis carcinomatosa.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)160-167
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Nuclear Medicine
Volume62
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • FAPI
  • Fibroblast-activating protein
  • Imaging
  • PET
  • SPECT
  • Theranostics

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