title: Translational imaging: imaging of apoptosis.
abstract: Since its original description in 1972, apoptosis or programmed cell death has been recognized as the major pathway by which the body precisely regulates the number and type of its cells as part of normal embryogenesis, development, and homeostasis. Later it was found that apoptosis was also involved in the pathogenesis of a number of human diseases, cell immunity, and the action of cytotoxotic drugs and radiation therapy in cancer treatment. As such, the imaging of apoptosis with noninvasive techniques such as with radiotracers, including annexin V and lipid proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, may have a wide range of clinical utility in both the diagnosis and monitoring therapy of a wide range of human disorders. In this chapter we review the basic biochemical and morphologic features of apoptosis and the methods developed thus far to image this complex process in humans.
authors.affiliation: Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, 1275 York Ave., Room S-212, Nuclear Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA. straussh@mskcc.org
authors.forename: H William
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Blankenberg
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vanderheyden
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tait
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017304:Annexin A5 / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D015335:Molecular Probes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010873:Pinocytosis; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011485:Protein Binding; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000378:metabolism; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D017304:Annexin A5; D008055:Lipids; D015335:Molecular Probes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals