Compounds for imaging amyloid-β deposits in an Alzheimer's brain: a patent review.
BACKGROUND
β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in the brain are regarded as a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the imaging of Aβ is a critical step for early diagnosis. Extensive research has been done to develop probes for targeting Aβ with available imaging modalities.


METHODS
In this review, the authors give an overview of published patents and papers about the discovery and development of compounds possessing potential utilization in imaging Aβ for the diagnosis of AD. SciFinder is the main electronic database for patent study in this review.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite achievements in Aβ imaging, there is still a need to develop innovative compounds with selectivity and high affinity to Aβ. Positron emission tomography imaging agents will still be the trend in the field in the short term. Due to the low costs for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and the excellent nuclear properties of (99m)Tc, substantial research should be conducted on the development of the probes for SPECT. Refining the current imaging techniques and in the meantime developing new efficient imaging multimodality and compounds would be a promising approach to imaging Aβ.
Beijing Normal University, College of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education , Beijing 100875 , P.R. China +86 10 58808891 ; +86 10 58808891 ; cmc@bnu.edu.cn.
Peiyu
P
Tu
Hualong
H
Fu
Mengchao
M
Cui
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D010330:Patents as Topic; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods
D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
Alzheimer’s disease; optical imaging; radiolabel; β-amyloid