Somatostatin analogues labeled with copper radioisotopes: current status

Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) is a promising way to treat patients with inoperable tumors or metastatic neuroendocrine tumors. This therapeutic strategy is using radiolabeled peptides, which are capable of selective biding to receptors overexpressed in the cancer cells. One of the group of receptor-avid peptide used in the PRRT are the analogues of somatostatin (SST) connected to the complexes of radionuclides (e.g. (90)Y, (177)Lu or (111)In). Many studies have shown that radiopharmaceuticals based on Cu radioisotopes are promising for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. This mini-review focuses on recent developments and summarises the results of multiple studies addressing SST agonists and antagonists radiolabeled to Cu radioisotopes.