18F-labelled cardiac PET tracers: selected probes for the molecular imaging of transporters, receptors and proteases

Abstract  Designated radiopharmaceuticals labelled with the prominent positron-emitter 18F can be defined as molecular imaging probes for the examination of cardiovascular diseases at the cellular and subcellular level. Such molecular imaging agents representing radioindicators or radiotracers offer the opportunity to non-invasively trace their path and fate in the living organism by the scintigraphic technique, positron emission tomography (PET). The glucose analogue [18F]FDG is a widespread PET tracer and one of the earliest examples of a PET molecular imaging probe feasible to in vivo visualise glucose utilisation by a metabolic trapping mechanism. This short review is focussed on selected established 18F-labelled PET tracers as well as 18F-labelled radioligands in development that show the potential of being probes for the in vivo molecular imaging of proteins relevant in cardiovascular diseases such as receptors (i.e. β-Adrenoceptors), transporters (i.e. NET and VMAT) and proteases (i.e. MMPs).