Imaging of Bacteria: Is there Any Hope for the Future Based on Past Experience?

Title:Imaging of Bacteria: Is there Any Hope for the Future Based on Past Experience?

Volume: 24 Issue: 7

Author(s): Thomas Ebenhan, Elena Lazzeri and Olivier Gheysens*

Affiliation:

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven,Belgium

Keywords: Radionuclide imaging, bacterial infection, antimicrobial peptides, radiolabeled leukocytes, biomimetics, antibiotics.

Abstract: Infectious diseases remain a major health problem and cause of death worldwide. It is expected that the socio-economic impact will further intensify due to escalating resistance to antibiotics, an ageing population and an increase in the number of patients under immunosuppressive therapy and implanted medical devices. Even though radiolabeled probes and leukocytes are routinely used in clinical practice, it might still be difficult to distinguish sterile inflammation from inflammation caused by bacteria. Moreover, the majority of these probes are based on the attraction of leukocytes which may be hampered in neutropenic patients. Novel approaches that can be implemented in clinical practice and allow for swift diagnosis of infection by targeting the microorganism directly, are posing an attractive strategy. Here we review the current strategies to directly image bacteria using radionuclides and we provide an overview of the preclinical efforts to develop and validate new approaches. Indeed, significant progress has been made in the past years, but very few radiopharmaceuticals (that were promising in preclinical studies) have made it into clinical practice. We will discuss the challenges that remain to select good candidates for imaging agents targeting bacteria.

Cite this article as:

Ebenhan Thomas , Lazzeri Elena and Gheysens Olivier *, Imaging of Bacteria: Is there Any Hope for the Future Based on Past Experience?, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2018; 24 (7) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612823666171122111558