89Zr is an emerging radionuclide that plays an essential role in immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. The long half-life of 89Zr (t1/2 = 3.3 days) is favorable for evaluating the in vivo distribution of monoclonal antibodies. Thus, the use of 89Zr is promising for monitoring antibody-based cancer therapies. Immuno-PET combines the sensitivity of PET with the specificity of antibodies. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the feasibility of 89Zr immuno-PET imaging for predicting the efficacy of radioimmunotherapy and antibody therapies, imaging target expression, detecting target-expressing tumors, and the monitoring of anti-cancer chemotherapies. In this review, we summarize the current status of PET imaging using 89Zr in both preclinical and clinical studies by highlighting the use of immuno-PET for the targets of high clinical relevance. We also present 89Zr-PET applications other than immuno-PET, such as nanoparticle imaging and cell tracking. Finally, we discuss the limitations and the ongoing research being performed to overcome the remaining hurdles.
Keywords: 89Zr; monoclonal antibody; oncological imaging; positron emission tomography.