ORIGINAL ARTICLES  RADIOPHARMACOLOGY 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2003 September;47(3):209-20

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Radiopharmaceuticals for targeting the angiogenesis marker αvβ3

McQuade P. ¹, KnIght L. C. ²

¹ Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, MO, USA 2 Temple University School of Medicine Department of Diagnostic Imaging Philadelphia, PA, USA

A com­mon fea­ture of sol­id ­tumors is the for­ma­tion of new ­blood ves­sels (angio­gen­e­sis) with­in the ­tumor. A recep­tor ­called αvβ3 is ­found on endo­the­lial ­cells lin­ing new­ly grow­ing ­blood ves­sels at a high­er den­sity ­than on ­mature ­blood ves­sels. This recep­tor may pro­vide a tar­get for radio­lig­ands to per­mit imag­ing of a ­wide varie­ty of sol­id ­tumors. The radio­lig­ands may ­range ­from mac­ro­mol­e­cules ­such as ­native ­ligands or mono­clo­nal anti­bod­ies, to ­small pro­teins to ­very ­small pep­tides. The dif­fer­ing char­ac­ter­is­tics of ­these bio-mole­cules ­have an ­affect on tar­get deliv­ery and clear­ance ­time.