Ubiquicidin derived peptides for infection imaging

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry
• Infectious Disease Imaging

Background:

• Ubiquicidin (UBI), a 59-amino acid protein, exhibits potent antimicrobial activity against diverse microorganisms.
• UBI's positive charge facilitates interaction with negatively charged bacterial membranes, similar to other antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).
• Radiolabeled UBI derivatives, like [99mTc]Tc-UBI(29-41), have been explored since the 1990s for SPECT imaging of focal infections.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential of ubiquicidin fragments as radiopharmaceuticals for imaging bacterial infections.
• To evaluate the advancements in developing positron emission tomography (PET) tracers derived from ubiquicidin fragments.
• To highlight the promise of [68Ga]Ga-UBI(29-41) as a novel imaging agent.

Main Methods:

• Development and evaluation of radiolabeled ubiquicidin derivatives for infection imaging.
• Investigation of positron emission tomography (PET) tracers based on ubiquicidin fragments.
• Design of peptide-covalent probe hybrids and fluorophore-based ubiquicidin derivatives.

Main Results:

• Radiolabeled ubiquicidin fragments can distinguish between sterile inflammation and infection.
• [68Ga]Ga-UBI(29-41) has demonstrated exceptional promise as a PET imaging tracer.
• Advancements include peptide-covalent probe hybrids and fluorophore-based derivatives for infection imaging.

Conclusions:

• Ubiquicidin fragments represent a promising class of agents for imaging bacterial infections.
• [68Ga]Ga-UBI(29-41) shows significant potential for clinical application in infection detection.
• Multicenter clinical trials are necessary to validate the efficacy of [68Ga]Ga-UBI(29-41) as an ideal radiopharmaceutical.