title: Siderophores for molecular imaging applications.
abstract: This review covers publications on siderophores applied for molecular imaging applications, mainly for radionuclide-based imaging. Siderophores are low molecular weight chelators produced by bacteria and fungi to scavenge essential iron. Research on these molecules has a continuing history over the past 50 years. Many biomedical applications have been developed, most prominently the use of the siderophore desferrioxamine (DFO) to tackle iron overload related diseases. Recent research described the upregulation of siderophore production and transport systems during infection. Replacing iron in siderophores by radionuclides, the most prominent Ga-68 for PET, opens approaches for targeted imaging of infection; the proof of principle has been reported for fungal infections using68Ga-triacetylfusarinine C (TAFC). Additionally, fluorescent siderophores and therapeutic conjugates have been described and may be translated to optical imaging and theranostic applications. Siderophores have also been applied as bifunctional chelators, initially DFO as chelator for Ga-67 and more recently for Zr-89 where it has become the standard chelator in Immuno-PET. Improved DFO constructs and bifunctional chelators based on cyclic siderophores have recently been developed for Ga-68 and Zr-89 and show promising properties for radiopharmaceutical development in PET. A huge potential from basic biomedical research on siderophores still awaits to be utilized for clinical and translational imaging.
authors.affiliation: 0000 0001 1245 3953grid.10979.36Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Milos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrik
authors.affiliation: 0000 0000 8853 2677grid.5361.1Universitätsklinik für Nuklearmedizin, Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Anichstr. 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria ; 0000 0000 8653 1072grid.410737.6Department of Experimental Nuclear Medicine, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong China.
authors.forename: Chuangyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: 0000 0000 8853 2677grid.5361.1Division of Molecular Biology, Biocenter, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Hubertus
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.affiliation: 0000 0000 8853 2677grid.5361.1Universitätsklinik für Nuklearmedizin, Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Anichstr. 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0566-4036
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decristoforo
keywords: Bifunctional chelator; Desferrioxamine; Infection; Siderophores; Triacetylfusarinine C