Compounds for imaging amyloid-β deposits in an Alzheimer’s brain: a patent review

Abstract

Introduction: β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in the brain are regarded as a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and the imaging of Aβ is a critical step for early diagnosis. Extensive research has been done to develop probes for targeting Aβ with available imaging modalities.

Areas covered: In this review, the authors give an overview of published patents and papers about the discovery and development of compounds possessing potential utilization in imaging Aβ for the diagnosis of AD. SciFinder is the main electronic database for patent study in this review.

Expert opinion: Despite achievements in Aβ imaging, there is still a need to develop innovative compounds with selectivity and high affinity to Aβ. Positron emission tomography imaging agents will still be the trend in the field in the short term. Due to the low costs for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and the excellent nuclear properties of ^99mTc, substantial research should be conducted on the development of the probes for SPECT. Refining the current imaging techniques and in the meantime developing new efficient imaging multimodality and compounds would be a promising approach to imaging Aβ.

Keywords:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• β-amyloid
• optical imaging
• radiolabel

Declaration of interest

The authors were supported by National Science and Technology Major Projects for Major New Drugs Innovation and Development (No. 2014ZX09507007-002) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21201019). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript from Elsevier webshop.

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