Imaging pancreatic islet cells by positron emission tomography

It was estimated that every year more than 30000 persons in the United States - approximately 80 people per day - are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). T1D is caused by autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic islet (β cells) cells. Islet transplantation has become a promising therapy option for T1D patients, while the lack of suitable tools is difficult to directly evaluate of the viability of the grafted islet over time. Positron emission tomography (PET) as an important non-invasive methodology providing high sensitivity and good resolution, is able to accurate detection of the disturbed biochemical processes and physiological abnormality in living organism. The successful PET imaging of islets would be able to localize the specific site where transplanted islets engraft in the liver, and to quantify the level of islets remain alive and functional over time. This information would be vital to establishing and evaluating the efficiency of pancreatic islet transplantation. Many novel imaging agents have been developed to improve the sensitivity and specificity of PET islet imaging. In this article, we summarize the latest developments in carbon-11, fluorine-18, copper-64, and gallium-68 labeled radioligands for the PET imaging of pancreatic islet cells.