Radiopharmaceuticals labelled with copper radionuclides: clinical results in human beings

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an instrumental diagnostic modality developed around the positron-emitting radioisotopes of biologically important elements such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen (11C, 15O, 13N). Among longer-lived PET radionuclides, 18F is by far the most commonly used radiotracer, extensively used for tumour imaging with FDG ([18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose) and also frequently investigated in the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals. Many other positron- emitting radionuclides with higher atomic numbers and longer half-lives have been investigated for both imaging and therapeutic purposes, including the halogens (124I, 120I, 76Br) and a number of metal radionuclides. The radio-copper has attracted considerable attention, because they include isotopes which, due to their emission properties, offer themselves as agents of both diagnostic imaging (60Cu, 61Cu, 62Cu, 64Cu) and in vivo targeted radiation therapy (64Cu and 67Cu).