Dendrimer-based contrast agents for PET imaging

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging offers physiological and biological information through the in vivo distribution of PET agents for disease diagnosis, therapy monitoring and prognosis evaluation. Due to the unique structural characteristics allowing for facile modification of targeting ligands and radionuclides, dendrimers can be served as a versatile scaffold to build up various PET imaging agents, and significant breakthroughs have been made in this field over the past decades. This review focuses on the recent advances in dendrimer-based contrast agents for PET imaging of cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases. In particular, radiolabeling strategies for different PET isotopes are described in detail. Several challenges involved in clinical translation of radiolabeled dendrimers are also discussed.