Progress of Coordination and Utilization of Zirconium-89 for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Studies

Radiometals have been commonly used in medical applications, and utilization of such metals continues to be an attractive research area. In particular, a variety of radiometals have been developed and implemented for molecular imaging. For such applications, 89 Zr has been one of the most interesting radiometals currently used for tumor targeting. Several chemical ligands were developed as 89 Zr chelators, and new coordinating methods have also been developed more recently. In addition, immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) studies using 89 Zr-labeled monoclonal antibodies have been performed by several scientists. In this review, recent advances to the coordination of 89 Zr and the utilization of 89 Zr in PET studies are described.