Visualizing cancer and immune cell function with metabolic positron emission tomography

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Medical Imaging
• Metabolic Research

Background:

• Cancer and immune cells dynamically alter metabolism to meet needs during disease progression and immune responses.
• In vivo assessment of cellular metabolic function is crucial for evaluating tumors, their therapeutic responses, and immune surveillance effectiveness.
• Positron emission tomography (PET) offers a sensitive, quantitative, whole-body imaging approach for assessing tissue biochemical function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the application of PET probes targeting specific metabolic pathways for measuring cell function in cancer and immunity.
• To focus on PET probes for glycolysis and nucleoside salvage pathways.
• To discuss the development of novel metabolic PET probes for visualizing cellular functions in disease contexts.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on PET probe development and application in cancer and immunology.
• Focus on probes targeting key metabolic pathways, including glycolysis and nucleoside salvage.
• Discussion of emerging PET strategies for visualizing cellular metabolic parameters.

Main Results:

• PET probes enable quantitative, in vivo measurement of cellular metabolic activity relevant to cancer and immune responses.
• Established PET probes for glycolysis and nucleoside salvage provide insights into tumor and immune cell function.
• Development of new PET probes is expanding the ability to visualize diverse metabolic parameters in disease.

Conclusions:

• PET imaging with metabolic probes is a powerful tool for evaluating cancer and immune cell function in vivo.
• Targeting metabolic pathways with PET offers a non-invasive method to assess tumor status and therapeutic efficacy.
• Continued development of novel metabolic PET probes will enhance our understanding and monitoring of diseases.