Advances in radionuclide molecular imaging of pancreatic β-cells

In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, β-cell mass (BCM) is lost.Various treatments are developed to restore or reconstruct BCM. The development of non-invasive methods to quantify BCM in vivo offers the potential for early detection of β-cell dysfunction prior to the clinical onset of diabetes. PET imaging with radioligands that directly target the pancreatic β-cells appears promising. The ability to determine the BCM has been investigated in several targets and their corresponding radiotracers, including radiolabeled receptor ligands, antibodies, metabolites and reporter genes. Therefore, we summarize the recent progress in radionuclide molecular imaging of pancreatic β-cells. (authors)