Research Article Synthesis and Preclinical Characterization of [18F]FPBZA: A Novel PET Probe for Melanoma

Copyright © 2014 Shih-Yen Wu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Introduction. Benzamide can specifically bind to melanoma cells. A 18F-labeled benzamide derivative, [18F]N-(2-diethyl-aminoethyl)-4-[2-(2-(2-fluoroethoxy) ethoxy)ethoxy]benzamide ([18F]FPBZA), was developed as a promising PET probe for primary and metastatic melanoma. Methods. [18F]FPBZA was synthesized via a one-step radiofluorination in this study. The specific uptake of [18F]FPBZA was studied in B16F0 melanoma cells, A375 amelanotic melanoma cells, and NB-DNJ-pretreated B16F0 melanoma cells. The biological characterization of [18F]FPBZA was performed on mice bearing B16F0 melanoma, A37