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PET imaging of bacterial infections with fluorine-18-labeled maltohexaose

Xinghai Ning1, Wonewoo Seo2, Seungjun Lee1

  • 1Department of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, 284 Hearst Memorial Mining Building, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA).

Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|October 22, 2014
PubMed

Insights

A novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracer, (18)F-labeled maltohexaose (MH(18)F), offers superior sensitivity and specificity for detecting bacterial infections in vivo compared to (18)FDG. This tracer can identify early infections and antibiotic resistance, improving diagnostic capabilities.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Imaging
  • Nuclear Medicine
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Bacterial infections pose a significant global health challenge.
  • Current diagnostic methods for bacterial infections often lack sufficient sensitivity and specificity.
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)FDG) PET imaging has limitations in bacterial infection detection.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the efficacy of a novel (18)F-labeled maltohexaose (MH(18)F) PET tracer for in vivo bacterial imaging.
  • To compare the diagnostic performance of MH(18)F with (18)FDG for bacterial infections.
  • To assess the potential of MH(18)F in detecting early-stage infections and antibiotic resistance.

Main Methods:

  • Development and characterization of (18)F-labeled maltohexaose (MH(18)F) as a PET tracer.
  • In vivo imaging studies using MH(18)F to detect bacterial infections.
  • Comparison of MH(18)F imaging with standard methods, including (18)FDG PET, in preclinical models.
  • Assessment of MH(18)F sensitivity for low bacterial loads and identification of drug-resistant strains.

Main Results:

  • MH(18)F demonstrated significantly higher sensitivity and specificity for bacterial imaging compared to (18)FDG.
  • The tracer successfully detected early-stage infections with as few as 10(5) E. coli colony-forming units (CFUs).
  • MH(18)F enabled in vivo identification of bacterial drug resistance.

Conclusions:

  • (18)F-labeled maltohexaose (MH(18)F) is a highly sensitive and specific PET tracer for in vivo bacterial imaging.
  • MH(18)F offers a promising advancement for the early diagnosis of bacterial infections.
  • This novel tracer has the potential to revolutionize the management of infectious diseases by enabling rapid detection of infections and antibiotic resistance.
Keywords:
bacterial infectionsmaltodextrin transportersmaltohexaosepositron emission tomographyradiochemistry

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