Imaging of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Using [¹⁸F]DCFPyL

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has been explored as a target for molecular imaging of prostate cancer and other malignancies that express PSMA in their tumor-associated neovasculature. Although several PSMA-targeted radiotracers labeled with a variety of radionuclides have been reported, positron-emitting radiotracers labeled with ¹⁸F are of particular interest. One such compound, the small molecule PSMA inhibitor [¹⁸F]DCFPyL, has demonstrated initial success. This article reviews the literature on this radiotracer, including radiosynthetic approaches to the molecule, data that are available from preclinical experiments, and evidence to date of the clinical utility of this agent in prostate cancer and clear cell renal cell carcinoma.