[18 F]-Fludarabine Positron Emission Tomography in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Patients: Results of a Phase I Study

Introduction: [18 F]-Fludarabine is a promising novel positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer for lymphoid malignancies. The rationale for its development is the high selectivity of fludarabine uptake within lymphoid cells, irrespective of their cycle activity, and the fluorine atom within the molecule, which is replaced by [18 F] and leads to a positron emitting biomarker. Pre-clinical studies (Dhilly et al, Mol Imaging Biol 2014,16:118-26 ; Hovhannisyan et al, EJNMMI Res 2015,5:23) showed a marked tumor uptake in lymphoma-bearing mice. The aim of this study was to describe anatomical sites with abnormal [18F]-fludarabine uptake in DLBCL patients. This study was designed as a clinical proof of concept.