title: Scintigraphic detection of infection and inflammation: new developments with special emphasis on receptor interaction.
abstract: Various conventional radiopharmaceuticals are currently available for scintigraphic imaging of infection and inflammation. Although a wide variety of infectious and inflammatory foci can be detected with these agents, several disadvantages limit their application. These limitations have stimulated the search for new radiopharmaceuticals. In the past decade a new class of radiopharmaceuticals has emerged: radiolabelled receptor-specific small proteins and peptides. These proteins and peptides are naturally occurring inflammatory mediators which specifically bind to receptors abundantly present in the area of inflammation. In addition, owing to their small size, they rapidly clear from all non-target tissues. This paper provides an overview of these newly developed agents, focussing on imaging characteristics and in vivo uptake mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: van der Laken
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Boerman
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Oyen
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: van de Ven
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: van der Meer
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Corstens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
chemical_list: D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals