Fluorinated contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging; a review of recent developments

More than 80 years ago, the renowned biochemist Otto Warburg described how cancer cells avidly consume glucose and produce lactic acid under aerobic conditions. Recent studies arguing that cancer cells benefit from this phenomenon, termed the Warburg effect, have renewed discussions about its exact role as cause, correlate, or facilitator of cancer. Molecular advances in this area may reveal tactics to exploit the cancer cell's "sweet tooth" for cancer therapy.

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are the first complete dendrimer family to be synthesized, characterized and commercialized. Based on this extensive activity, they are recognized as a unique new class of synthetic nanostructures. Dendrimers allow the precise control of size, shape and placement of functional groups that is desirable for many life science applications. From this perspective, this review focuses on crucial properties of biomimetic dendrimers that will broaden the potential for their use as macromolecular vectors in novel drug delivery and biomedical applications.