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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Bioorthogonal Chemical Imaging of Cell Metabolism Regulated by Aromatic Amino Acids
Published on: May 12, 2023
Amino Acid Metabolism as a Target for Breast Cancer Imaging
Gary A Ulaner1, David M Schuster2
1Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, Box 77, New York, NY 10065, USA; Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical School, 525 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Abstract:
Amino acids are an alternate energy source to glucose, and amino acid metabolism is up-regulated in multiple malignancies, including breast cancers. Multiple amino acid radiotracers have been used to image breast cancer with unique strengths and weaknesses. 11C-methionine uptake correlates with S-phase fraction in breast cancer and may be useful for evaluation of treatment response. Invasive lobular breast cancers may demonstrate greater 18F-fluciclovine avidity than 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose. Thus, different histologic subtypes of breast cancer may use diverse metabolic pathways and may be better imaged by different tracers.
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