Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis is a very promising treatment option for cancer therapy. However, since only ca. 30% of patients respond to ICI therapy, a diagnostic tool is highly sought after to identify those patients prior to therapy who are likely to respond. Positron emission tomography / computer tomography (PET/CT) allows to address the temporospatial heterogeneity of PD-L1 dysregulation and thus would be an ideal tool to answer the likeliness of a therapy response. Therefore, this project aims on developing a 18F-PET tracer based on the highly water-soluble small molecule radioligands previously reported by our group for 64Cu labelling.
