Poster Presenter
The Development of 99mTC-Voriconazole
as a Fungal Specific Imaging Agent: In Vitro Studies.
S.S.Das, N. Ashfaq, M.Cooper
United Kingdom
Background: Invasive fungal
infections are a major cause of morbidity & mortality in immunocompromised
patients. New techniques are urgently required to facilitate early
diagnosis and treatment. Having successfully developed technetium-99m
ciprofloxacin (Infecton) as the first bacteria specific imaging
agent, we are attempting to do similarly with antifungal agents.
Here the data on voriconazole is presented.
Methods: 99mTc-Voriconazole was prepared
by adding 1mg of voriconazole to1000 MBq Tc-99m and heated to 75OC
for 30 min. The product was then purified by HPLC. UV detection
was performed at 254nm and radioactivity measured using an in-line
detector. Specificity of 99mTc-Voriconazole for fungi
was determined by measuring the uptake of the complex by Candida
albicans in vitro and comparing it with E.coli.
Results: Voriconazole complexed well with 99mTc
with a single peak at 18.8min on HPLC. In vitro C.
albicans demonstrated higher uptake (6 fold) of 95Tc-Voriconazole
than E.coli.
Conclusions: Voriconazole can be radiolabelled
with technetium-99m with good efficiency and purity. The complex
was taken up by Candida albicans, the most common cause
of invasive fungal infection in humans. Studies are in progress
to determine uptake by other fungal species as a prelude to assessment
in animal models of fungal infections.
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