Work

Bacterial infection imaging with [ 18 F]fluoropropyl-trimethoprim

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Significance The ability to distinguish bacterial infection from other pathologies in humans can be challenging. An imaging agent with great sensitivity and spatial resolution that would allow noninvasive identification of sites of bacterial infection could increase our understanding of the natural history of bacterial infection in patients and potentially be used to support clinical decision making. Here, we report the first synthesis of a fluorine-18–labeled derivative of the antibiotic trimethoprim for positron emission tomography imaging and show that it can identify bacterial infection in rodents. Importantly, this radiotracer does not accumulate at sites of sterile inflammation or cancer, pathologies that often have overlapping imaging features with bacterial infection.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1703109114