title: Radiolabeling strategies for radionuclide imaging of stem cells.
abstract: The interest in the use of stem cells as a source for therapy has increased dramatically over the last decades. Different stem cell types have been tested in both in vitro and in vivo models, because of their properties such as differentiation potential, trophic effects and immune modulatory properties. To further optimize the use of different stem cell types for the treatment of disease in a clinical setting, it is necessary to know more about the in vivo behavior of these cells following engraftment. Until now, the golden standard to preclinically evaluate cell therapy was histology, which is an invasive method as the animals need to be sacrificed. This hampers the generation of dynamic information and results in only one single point in time available for analysis per animal. For more information regarding cell migration, in situ persistence, viability, proliferation and differentiation, molecular imaging can be used for imaging cells after transplantation dynamically and longitudinally, in a noninvasive way. With this technology, it becomes possible to track cells within the same subjects over a long period of time.
authors.affiliation: Division of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging/ Molecular small animal imaging centre (MoSAIC), Department of imaging and pathology, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 505, Leuven, 3000, Belgium, esther.wolfs@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wolfs
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Verfaillie
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Van Laere
authors.forename: Christophe M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Deroose
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D011868:Radioisotopes; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes