Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening infection of immunocompromised patients with <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i>, a ubiquitous environmental mould. While there are numerous functioning antifungal therapies, their high cost, substantial side effects and fear of overt...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Fungi |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/6/4/338 |
| _version_ | 1797545662639767552 |
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| author | Matthias Gunzer Christopher R. Thornton Nicolas Beziere |
| author_facet | Matthias Gunzer Christopher R. Thornton Nicolas Beziere |
| author_sort | Matthias Gunzer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening infection of immunocompromised patients with <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i>, a ubiquitous environmental mould. While there are numerous functioning antifungal therapies, their high cost, substantial side effects and fear of overt resistance development preclude permanent prophylactic medication of risk-patients. Hence, a fast and definitive diagnosis of IPA is desirable, to quickly identify those patients that really require aggressive antimycotic treatment and to follow the course of the therapeutic intervention. However, despite decades of research into this issue, such a diagnostic procedure is still not available. Here, we discuss the array of currently available methods for IPA detection and their limits. We then show that molecular imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) combined with morphological computed tomography or magnetic imaging is highly promising to become a future non-invasive approach for IPA diagnosis and therapy monitoring, albeit still requiring thorough validation and relying on further acceptance and dissemination of the approach. Thereby, our approach using the <i>A. fumigatus</i>-specific humanized monoclonal antibody hJF5 labelled with <sup>64</sup>Cu as PET-tracer has proven highly effective in pre-clinical models and hence bears high potential for human application. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:19:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-65de565bcc28450f8d4158c8be6b5d7f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2309-608X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:19:26Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Fungi |
| spelling | doaj.art-65de565bcc28450f8d4158c8be6b5d7f2023-11-20T23:31:28ZengMDPI AGJournal of Fungi2309-608X2020-12-016433810.3390/jof6040338Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive AspergillosisMatthias Gunzer0Christopher R. Thornton1Nicolas Beziere2Institute for Experimental Immunology and Imaging, University Hospital, University Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, GermanyISCA Diagnostics Ltd. and Biosciences, College of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PY, UKWerner Siemens Imaging Center, Department of Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, GermanyInvasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening infection of immunocompromised patients with <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i>, a ubiquitous environmental mould. While there are numerous functioning antifungal therapies, their high cost, substantial side effects and fear of overt resistance development preclude permanent prophylactic medication of risk-patients. Hence, a fast and definitive diagnosis of IPA is desirable, to quickly identify those patients that really require aggressive antimycotic treatment and to follow the course of the therapeutic intervention. However, despite decades of research into this issue, such a diagnostic procedure is still not available. Here, we discuss the array of currently available methods for IPA detection and their limits. We then show that molecular imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) combined with morphological computed tomography or magnetic imaging is highly promising to become a future non-invasive approach for IPA diagnosis and therapy monitoring, albeit still requiring thorough validation and relying on further acceptance and dissemination of the approach. Thereby, our approach using the <i>A. fumigatus</i>-specific humanized monoclonal antibody hJF5 labelled with <sup>64</sup>Cu as PET-tracer has proven highly effective in pre-clinical models and hence bears high potential for human application.https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/6/4/338<i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i>invasive pulmonary aspergillosisaspergillosisimagingpositron emission tomographyimmunoPET |
| spellingShingle | Matthias Gunzer Christopher R. Thornton Nicolas Beziere Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis Journal of Fungi <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> invasive pulmonary aspergillosis aspergillosis imaging positron emission tomography immunoPET |
| title | Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis |
| title_full | Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis |
| title_fullStr | Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis |
| title_short | Advances in the In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Invasive Aspergillosis |
| title_sort | advances in the in vivo molecular imaging of invasive aspergillosis |
| topic | <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> invasive pulmonary aspergillosis aspergillosis imaging positron emission tomography immunoPET |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/6/4/338 |
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