18F-FPP: A PET Ligand for the 5-HT2C Receptor?

In the current issue of ACS Chemical Neuroscience, Kim et al. report on the early characterization of 4-(3-[18F] fluorophenethoxy)pyrimidine (18F-FPP) as a new positron emission tomography radiotracer for imaging brain 5-HT2C receptors ( Kim, J., et al. ( 2017 ) A potential PET radiotracer for the 5-HT2c receptor: Synthesis and in vivo evaluation of 4-(3-[18F]Fluorophenethoxy)pyrimidine. ACS Chem. Neurosci. , DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.6b00445 ). At the present time, the tracer properties of 18F-FPP have only been reported in rats. If 18F-FPP is indeed shown to be suitable as a 5-HT2C receptor PET tracer in humans, it will very likely have an important impact both in the development of any new chemical entities (NCEs) targeted to 5-HT2C receptors, as well as a tool to advance understanding of 5-HT2C receptor function both in normal and abnormal brain states.