title: O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine: uptake mechanisms and clinical applications.
abstract: O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine (FET) is a promising tracer for PET that has demonstrated convincing results especially in the diagnostics of brain tumors. In contrast to other radiolabeled amino acids, it can be produced with high efficiency and distributed in a satellite concept like the widely used 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose. Although FET is not incorporated into proteins, it shows high uptake in cerebral gliomas and in extracranial squamous cell carcinomas owing to increased transport. The tracer exhibits high in vivo stability, low uptake in inflammatory tissue and suitable uptake kinetics for clinical imaging, which indicates that it may become a new standard tracer for PET. In this article, the present knowledge on the uptake mechanisms and the clinical applications of FET are reviewed and the clinical perspectives are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Research Center Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany. k.j.langen@fz-juelich.de
authors.forename: Karl-Josef
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Langen
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamacher
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weckesser
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Floeth
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stoffels
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Heinz H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Coenen
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pauleit
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; C117289:O-(2-fluoroethyl)tyrosine; D014443:Tyrosine