Encouraged by the safety and feasibility of [18F]AlF-NOTA-QHY-04 in monitoring radiation-induced lung injury, this study comprehensively investigated its binding affinity, specificity and imaging efficacy in vitro, in mouse tumor-bearing models and ex vivo, and evaluated the applicability of this 18F-labled tracer for specific imaging of CXCR4 expression in 55 patients with 8 different types of cancers including solid and hematologic neoplasms. The gene discussed is CXCR4; the disease is cancer.