[11C]NCGG401, a novel PET ligand for imaging of colony stimulating factor 1 receptors.

Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptors (CSF1R) are expressed exclusively on microglia in the central nervous system. The receptors regulate immune responses by controlling the survival and activity of microglia and are intricately involved in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we developed [11C]NCGG401, a positron emission tomography (PET) ligand, targeting for CSF1R as an imaging biomarker for microglial pathophysiology in Alzheimer's disease. NCGG401 showed a high potency to inhibit human CSF1R kinase activity and a high binding affinity to human CSF1R. PET imaging with [11C]NCGG401 in healthy rats showed a good brain permeability. Furthermore, the specific binding component was determined by postmortem autoradiography in rat brain and human hippocampal sections. The knowledge of the characteristics of [11C]NCCC401, our initial CSF1R compound, we have obtained may be useful for further development and optimization of CSF1R radioligands for PET imaging of microglia.