Published April 1, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article

An update on radiotracer development for molecular imaging of bacterial infections

  • 1. Leiden University Medical Center, Interventional Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology (Netherlands)
  • 2. Wageningen University & Research, Laboratory of BioNanoTechnology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences (Netherlands)
  • 3. Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Parasitology and Department of Infectious Diseases (Netherlands)

Description

Background

Bacterial infections are still a major global healthcare problem. To combat the increasing antimicrobial resistance, early diagnosis of bacterial infections—including the identification of bacterial species—is needed to improve antibiotic stewardship and to help reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. To aid successful targeted antibiotic treatment, specific detection and localisation of infectious organisms is warranted. Nuclear medicine imaging approaches have been successfully used to diagnose bacterial infections and to differentiate between pathogen induced infections and sterile inflammatory processes.

Aim

In this comprehensive review we present an overview of recent developments in radiolabelled bacterial imaging tracers.

Methods

The PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase (OvidSP) literature databases were systematically searched for publications on SPECT and PET on specific imaging of bacterial using specific guidelines with MeSH-terms, truncations, and completion using cross-references. Tracers in literature that was extensively reviewed before 2016 were not included in this update. Where possible, the chemical structure of the radiolabelled compounds and clinical images were shown.

Results

In 219 original articles pre-clinical and clinical imaging of bacterial infection with new tracers were included. In our view, the highest translational potential lies with tracers that are specific to target the pathogens: e.g., 99mTc- and 68Ga-labelled UBI29–41, 99mTc-vancomycin, m-[18F]-fluoro-PABA, [methyl-11C]-D-methionine, [18F]-FDS, [18F]-maltohexaose and [18F]-maltotriose. An encouraging note is that some of these tracers have already been successfully evaluated in clinical settings.

Conclusion

This review summarises updates in tracer development for specific (pre-clinical and clinical) imaging of bacterial infections. We propsed some promising tracers that are likely to become innovative standards in the clinical setting in the near feature.

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Clinical and Translational Imaging (Online)
Journal Volume
7
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. 105-124
ISSN
2281-7565

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2019 The Author(s)