Targeting Copper in Cancer Imaging and Therapy: A New Theragnostic Agent.

Copper is required for cancer cell proliferation and tumor angiogenesis. Copper-64 radionuclide (Cu), a form of copper chloride (CuCl), is rapidly emerging as a diagnostic PET/CT tracer in oncology. It may also represent an interesting alternative to gallium-68 (Ga) as a radionuclide precursor for labelling radiopharmaceuticals used to investigate neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer.