The 2nd International Conference on Drug Discovery & Therapy: Dubai, February 1 - 4, 2010


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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