(99m)Tc-labeled ubiquicidin scintigraphy: a promising method in hip prosthesis infection diagnosis

Tc-99 m Ubiquicidin Imaging in Orbital Aspergilloma: an Illustration

Aspergillus infection is relatively rare disease, and we present a case of orbital aspergillus infection who presented with right orbital pain and swelling. Right orbital lesion was identified on CT, MRI, and PET-CT imaging followed by confirmation of aspergillus on histopathological examination. We demonstrate that Tc-99 m ubiquicidin scan can yield positive results in aspergillosis too, enabling its differentiation from non-infective pathologies.

Molecular Imaging of Periprosthetic Joint Infections

Infection is an infrequent complication of lower extremity prosthetic joint surgery. Approximately one third develop within 3 months (early), another third within 1 year (delayed), and the remainder more than 1 year (late) after surgery. The diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection is not always straightforward. Pain, the most common symptom, is present in 90%-100% of patients. The presence of fever is more variable, ranging from less than 5% to more than 40% of patients with infection. Erythema and joint swelling are often present in acute infections, but are less common in chronic infections. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels are useful "rule out" tests, while peripheral blood leukocyte count and serum tumor necrosis factor α are not helpful. The diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection often requires a combination of blood, synovial fluid, and tissue sample tests, as well as imaging. Plain radiographs lack sensitivity and specificity. Molecular imaging is useful for evaluating painful joint replacements. Bone scintigraphy is most useful as a screening test. If it is negative then infection and aseptic loosening are unlikely. Combined labeled leukocyte/bone marrow imaging is a very specific test for diagnosing lower extremity joint arthroplasty infection; sensitivity is more variable. Despite more than two decades of investigation, there still is no consensus on the value of ¹⁸F-FDG for diagnosing periprosthetic joint infection. Differing test probabilities, an inability to discriminate between infection and inflammation secondary to physiologic reactions, and lack of standardized interpretative criteria are obstacles to incorporating ¹⁸F-FDG into the routine diagnostic imaging workup of periprosthetic joint infection. Preliminary results for gallium-68 citrate, fluorine-18, and technetium-99m labeled antimicrobial fragments are encouraging but no large scale trials with these agents have been conducted. Limited data suggest that labeled leukocyte/bone marrow SPECT/CT and ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT are specific but not sensitive for diagnosing periprosthetic infection of shoulder arthroplasties. There are minimal data on molecular imaging for monitoring treatment response in periprosthetic infections.

Current Status of SPECT Radiopharmaceuticals for Specific Bacteria Imaging

Imaging infection still represents a challenge for researchers. Despite nuclear medicine (NM) offers valuable tools able to discriminate between infections and inflammation, there is an unmet clinical need to develop new strategies able to specifically target the causative pathogen, to select the best antimicrobial treatment for each patient and to accurately assess therapeutic efficacy. These aspects are commonly addressed by microbiology or histology but the diagnosis often relies on invasive procedures that are prone to contamination or sample bias and do not reflect the spatial heterogeneity of the infective process. Therefore, in the era of personalized medicine and treatment, a lot of efforts are in play to improve a personalized diagnosis. Molecular imaging is an ideal candidate for this purpose and, indeed, research is going fast to this direction aiming to find more selective and proper antimicrobial treatments and to overcome broad-spectrum antibiotic use, which still represents the major cause of bacterial drug-resistance. Several approaches for specifically image bacteria have been proposed and provided encouraging perspectives in preclinical studies. Nevertheless, the majority of these promising approaches are still confined in "bench stages" and crucial issues still need to be addressed before their translation in clinical practice. This review will focus on radiolabeled antibiotics for SPECT imaging of bacteria, their mechanisms of action, their potentiality and limitations for "bed-side" applications.

Early Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Joint Infection of the Hip-Current Status, Advances, and Perspectives

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) has devastating consequences on joint function and the morbidity and mortality rate of patients who are victims of this serious complication. Although early diagnosis is one of the consensuses with well-established importance, routine workup is still conducted on an empirical, inconsistent, and nonobjective basis in many centers around the world. The present article seeks to contextualize the current state of knowledge about the early diagnosis of PJIs, as well as to discuss the advances and perspectives, within a scenario of its routine use by the healthcare team responsible for managing this dreaded complication.

Diagnostic value of 99mTc-ubiquicidin scintigraphy in differentiation between osteomyelitis and bone tumors

AIM

The differentiation of osteomyelitis from bone tumors is of great importance in clinical decision-making; however, the features of both osteomyelitis and bone tumors are noncontributory. Tc-ubiquicidin scintigraphy is a new promising method with the ability to specifically localize the infection site by bacterial cell membrane binding. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of this radiopeptide for the differentiation of these two entities.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Thirty consecutive patients (mean age=20.9 years) suspected of having either osteomyelitis or bone tumor were included in this prospective study. A Tc-UBI scan was performed in both dynamic and static phases and the images were assessed qualitatively and semiquantitatively. The final diagnosis was established for 29 patients on the basis of surgical findings and microbiological and pathology assessments as well as any other clinical, laboratory, or imaging findings during patient follow-up.

RESULTS

The final diagnosis was infectious and noninfectious processes in 19 and 10 patients, respectively. Visual assessment could not distinguish between osteomyelitis and bone tumors. However, the time-activity pattern of the images proved to be promising. The sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value, and accuracy of the time-activity curve for osteomyelitis were 73.6 (54-93), 100, 66.6 (43-91), 100, and 82%, respectively. The mean±SD tumor/nontumor (T/NT) ratios for 30 min images were 2.22±0.45 and 2.02±0.51 for infectious and noninfectious processes, respectively (P=0.29). Using a cutoff value of 0.97 for the T/NT ratio, the sensitivity and specificity were calculated to be 78.9 and 50%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Although Tc-UBI scintigraphy in the dynamic imaging format was very useful with high accuracy in differentiating between infectious and tumoral lesions, it was not useful to distinguish these two entities on the basis of visual assessment or T/NT ratio measurement on static images. The study also showed the high accuracy of this noninvasive modality in acute osteomyelitis with low diagnostic value in chronic infectious processes.

99mTc-Labeled Ubiquicidin Accumulation in a Retained Surgical Gauze

A 31-year-old woman underwent Tc-labeled UBI scanning for diagnosis of possible prosthesis infection evaluation in our department. The scan showed an area of increased tracer uptake in the mid-lateral portion of the left thigh. This was proven to be due to a retained surgical gauze in her left thigh.

The Accuracy of Imaging Techniques in the Assessment of Periprosthetic Hip Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Various imaging techniques are used for excluding or confirming periprosthetic hip infection, but there is no consensus regarding the most accurate technique. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of current imaging modalities in diagnosing periprosthetic hip infection.

METHODS

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature was conducted with a comprehensive search of MEDLINE and Embase to identify clinical studies in which periprosthetic hip infection was investigated with different imaging modalities. The sensitivity and specificity of each imaging technique were determined and compared with the results of microbiological and histological analysis, intraoperative findings, and clinical follow-up of >6 months.

RESULTS

A total of 31 studies, published between 1988 and 2014, were included for meta-analysis, representing 1,753 hip prostheses. Quality assessment of the included studies identified low concerns with regard to external validity but more concerns with regard to internal validity including risk of bias (>50% of studies had insufficient information). No meta-analysis was performed for radiography, ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging because of insufficient available clinical data. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 88% (95% confidence interval [CI], 81% to 94%) and 92% (95% CI, 88% to 96%), respectively, for leukocyte scintigraphy; 86% (95% CI, 80% to 90%) and 93% (95% CI, 90% to 95%) for fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET); 69% (95% CI, 58% to 79%) and 96% (95% CI, 93% to 98%) for combined leukocyte and bone marrow scintigraphy; 84% (95% CI, 70% to 93%) and 75% (95% CI, 66% to 82%) for antigranulocyte scintigraphy; and 80% (95% CI, 72% to 86%) and 69% (95% CI, 64% to 73%) for bone scintigraphy.

CONCLUSIONS

Of the currently used imaging techniques, leukocyte scintigraphy has satisfactory accuracy in confirming or excluding periprosthetic hip infection. Although not significantly different, combined leukocyte and bone marrow scintigraphy was the most specific imaging technique. FDG PET has an appropriate accuracy in confirming or excluding periprosthetic hip infection, but may not yet be the preferred imaging modality because of limited availability and relatively higher cost.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Diagnostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Radionuclide Imaging of Musculoskeletal Infection: A Review

There are numerous imaging tests for diagnosing musculoskeletal infection. Radiographs are routinely performed, because even when not diagnostic, they provide an anatomic overview of the region of interest that could influence subsequent procedure selection and interpretation. MRI is sensitive and provides superb anatomic detail. Bone scintigraphy accurately diagnoses osteomyelitis in bones not affected by underlying conditions. (67)Ga is used primarily for spondylodiskitis. Although in vitro labeled leukocyte imaging is the radionuclide test of choice for complicating osteomyelitis such as diabetic pedal osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infection, it is not useful for spondylodiskitis. Antigranulocyte antibodies and antibody fragments have limitations and are not widely available. (111)In-biotin is useful for spondylodiskitis. Radiolabeled synthetic fragments of the antimicrobial peptide ubiquicidin are promising infection-specific agents. (18)F-FDG is the radiopharmaceutical of choice for spondylodiskitis. Its role in diabetic pedal osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infection is not established. Preliminary data suggest (68)Ga may be useful in musculoskeletal infection. (124)I-fialuridine initially showed promise as an infection-specific radiopharmaceutical, but subsequent investigations were disappointing. The development of PET/CT and SPECT/CT imaging systems, which combine anatomic and functional imaging, has revolutionized diagnostic imaging. These hybrid systems are redefining the diagnostic workup of patients with suspected or known infection and inflammation by improving diagnostic accuracy and influencing patient management.

Optical imaging of bacterial infections

The rise in multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria has become a global crisis. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of infection will facilitate antibiotic stewardship and preserve our ability to treat and cure patients from bacterial infection. Direct in situ imaging of bacteria offers the prospect of accurately diagnosing disease and monitoring patient outcomes and response to treatment in real-time. There have been many recent advances in the field of optical imaging of infection; namely in specific probe and fluorophore design. This combined with the advances in imaging device technology render direct optical imaging of infection a feasible approach for accurate diagnosis in the clinic. Despite this, there are currently no licensed molecular probes for clinical optical imaging of infection. Here we report some of the most promising and interesting probes and approaches under development for this purpose, which have been evaluated in in vivo models within the laboratory setting.

Nuclear medicine imaging of bone infections

Osteomyelitis is a broad group of infectious diseases that involve the bone and/or bone marrow. It can arise haematogenously, via extension from a contiguous infection, or by direct inoculation during surgery or trauma. The diagnosis is not always obvious and imaging tests are frequently performed as part of the diagnostic work-up. Commonly performed radionuclide tests include technetium-99m ((99m)Tc)-diphosphonate bone scintigraphy (bone), and gallium-67 ((67)Ga) and in vitro labelled leukocyte (white blood cell; WBC) imaging. Although they are useful, each of these tests has limitations. Bone scintigraphy is sensitive but not specific, especially when underlying osseous abnormalities are present. (67)Ga accumulates in tumour, trauma, and in aseptic inflammation; furthermore, there is typically an interval of 1-3 days between radiopharmaceutical injection of and imaging. Currently, this agent is used primarily for spinal infections. Except for the spine, WBC imaging is the nuclear medicine test of choice for diagnosing complicating osteomyelitis. The in vitro leukocyte labelling process requires skilled personnel, is laborious, and is not always available. Complementary marrow imaging is usually required to maximise accuracy. Not surprisingly, alternative radiopharmaceuticals are continuously being investigated. Radiolabelled anti-granulocyte antibodies and antibody fragments, investigated as in vivo leukocyte labelling agents, have their own limitations and are not widely available. (111)In-biotin is useful for diagnosing spinal infections. Radiolabelled synthetic fragments of ubiquicidin, a naturally occurring human antimicrobial peptide that targets bacteria, have shown promise as infection specific radiopharmaceuticals. 2-[(18)F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET) with or without computed tomography (CT) is very useful in musculoskeletal infection. Sensitivities of more than 95% and specificities ranging from 75-99% have been reported in acute and subacute bone and soft-tissue infection. FDG is the radionuclide test of choice for spinal infection. It is sensitive, has a high negative predictive value, and can differentiate degenerative from infectious vertebral body end-plate abnormalities. Data on the accuracy of FDG for diagnosing diabetic pedal osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infection are inconclusive and its role for these indications remains to be determined. Other PET radiopharmaceuticals that are under investigation as infection imaging agents include gallium-68 citrate ((68)Ga) and iodine-124 fialuridine ((124)I -FIAU).

Radionuclide imaging of osteomyelitis

Radionuclide procedures frequently are performed as part of the diagnostic workup of osteomyelitis. Bone scintigraphy accurately diagnoses osteomyelitis in bones not affected by underlying conditions. Degenerative joint disease, fracture, and orthopedic hardware decrease the specificity of the bone scan, making it less useful in these situations. Gallium-67 scintigraphy was often used as an adjunct to bone scintigraphy for diagnosing osteomyelitis. However, now it is used primarily for spinal infections when (18)F-FDG imaging cannot be performed. Except for the spine, in vitro-labeled leukocyte imaging is the nuclear medicine test of choice for diagnosing complicating osteomyelitis. Leukocytes accumulate in bone marrow as well as in infection. Performing complementary bone marrow imaging with (99m)Tc-sulfur colloid facilitates the differentiation between osteomyelitis and normal marrow and improves test overall accuracy. Antigranulocyte antibodies and antibody fragments, such as (99m)Tc-besilesomab and (99m)Tc-sulesomab, were developed to eliminate the disadvantages associated with in vitro-labeled leukocytes. These agents, however, have their own shortcomings and are not widely available. As biotin is used as a growth factor by certain bacteria, (111)In-biotin is useful to diagnose spinal infections. Radiolabeled synthetic fragments of ubiquicidin, a naturally occurring human antimicrobial peptide that targets bacteria, can differentiate infection from sterile inflammation and may be useful to monitor response to treatment. (18)F-FDG is extremely useful in the diagnostic workup of osteomyelitis. Sensitivity in excess of 95% and specificity ranging from 75%-99% have been reported. (18)F-FDG is the radionuclide test of choice for spinal infection. The test is sensitive, with a high negative predictive value, and reliably differentiates degenerative from infectious vertebral body end-plate abnormalities. Data on the accuracy of (18)F-FDG for diagnosing diabetic pedal osteomyelitis are contradictory, and its role for this indication remains to be determined. Initial investigations suggested that (18)F-FDG accurately diagnoses prosthetic joint infection; more recent data indicate that it cannot differentiate infection from other causes of prosthetic failure. Preliminary data on the PET agents gallium-68 and iodine-124 fialuridine indicate that these agents may have a role in diagnosing osteomyelitis.

99m-Tc-ubiquicidin scintigraphy in diagnosis of knee prosthesis infection and comparison with F-18 fluorodeoxy-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography

Total knee arthroplasty has witnessed a significant increase in recent years. Despite the advantages of this surgical procedure, it has some complications, the most serious of which is prosthetic infection. The discrimination of bacterial infections from sterile inflammatory processes is of great importance in the management of periprosthetic infection (PPI). Ubiquicidin (UBI) is a synthetic antimicrobial peptide fragment reported to be highly infection-specific. Tc99m-UBI has recently been reported to be a promising radiotracer for infection imaging. We report a case of left knee PPI diagnosed using 99mTc-UBI scintigraphy and compared with F-18 fluorodeoxy-glucose positron emission tomography.

Antimicrobial peptides: their role as infection-selective tracers for molecular imaging

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a heterogeneous class of compounds found in a variety of organisms including humans and, so far, hundreds of these structures have been isolated and characterised. They can be described as natural microbicide, selectively cytotoxic to bacteria, whilst showing minimal cytotoxicity towards the mammalian cells of the host organism. They act by their relatively strong electrostatic attraction to the negatively charged bacterial cells and a relatively weak interaction to the eukaryote host cells. The ability of these peptides to accumulate at sites of infection combined with the minimal host's cytotoxicity motivated for this review to highlight the role and the usefulness of AMPs for PET with emphasis on their mechanism of action and the different interactions with the bacterial cell. These details are key information for their selective properties. We also describe the strategy, design, and utilization of these peptides as potential radiopharmaceuticals as their combination with nuclear medicine modalities such as SPECT or PET would allow noninvasive whole-body examination for detection of occult infection causing, for example, fever of unknown origin.

Human antimicrobial peptides and proteins

As the key components of innate immunity, human host defense antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) play a critical role in warding off invading microbial pathogens. In addition, AMPs can possess other biological functions such as apoptosis, wound healing, and immune modulation. This article provides an overview on the identification, activity, 3D structure, and mechanism of action of human AMPs selected from the antimicrobial peptide database. Over 100 such peptides have been identified from a variety of tissues and epithelial surfaces, including skin, eyes, ears, mouths, gut, immune, nervous and urinary systems. These peptides vary from 10 to 150 amino acids with a net charge between -3 and +20 and a hydrophobic content below 60%. The sequence diversity enables human AMPs to adopt various 3D structures and to attack pathogens by different mechanisms. While α-defensin HD-6 can self-assemble on the bacterial surface into nanonets to entangle bacteria, both HNP-1 and β-defensin hBD-3 are able to block cell wall biosynthesis by binding to lipid II. Lysozyme is well-characterized to cleave bacterial cell wall polysaccharides but can also kill bacteria by a non-catalytic mechanism. The two hydrophobic domains in the long amphipathic α-helix of human cathelicidin LL-37 lays the basis for binding and disrupting the curved anionic bacterial membrane surfaces by forming pores or via the carpet model. Furthermore, dermcidin may serve as ion channel by forming a long helix-bundle structure. In addition, the C-type lectin RegIIIα can initially recognize bacterial peptidoglycans followed by pore formation in the membrane. Finally, histatin 5 and GAPDH(2-32) can enter microbial cells to exert their effects. It appears that granulysin enters cells and kills intracellular pathogens with the aid of pore-forming perforin. This arsenal of human defense proteins not only keeps us healthy but also inspires the development of a new generation of personalized medicine to combat drug-resistant superbugs, fungi, viruses, parasites, or cancer. Alternatively, multiple factors (e.g., albumin, arginine, butyrate, calcium, cyclic AMP, isoleucine, short-chain fatty acids, UV B light, vitamin D, and zinc) are able to induce the expression of antimicrobial peptides, opening new avenues to the development of anti-infectious drugs.

The use of 14C-FIAU to predict bacterial thymidine kinase presence: implications for radiolabeled FIAU bacterial imaging

Currently available infectious disease imaging techniques cannot differentiate between infection and sterile inflammation or between different types of infections. Recently, radiolabeled FIAU was found to be a substrate for the thymidine kinase (TK) enzyme of multiple pathogenic bacteria, leading to its translational use in the imaging of bacterial infections. Patients with immunodeficiencies, however, are susceptible to a different group of pathogenic bacteria when compared to immunocompetent subjects. In this study, we wanted to predict the usefulness of radiolabeled FIAU in the detection of bacterial infections commonly occurring in patients with immunodeficiencies, in vitro, prior to attempting in vivo imaging with (124)I-FIAU-PET.

METHODS

We obtained representative strains of bacterial pathogens isolated from actual patients with genetic immunodeficiencies. We evaluated the bacterial susceptibility of different strains to the effect of incubation with FIAU, which would implicate the presence of the thymidine kinase (TK) enzyme. We also incubated the bacteria with (14)C-FIAU and consequently measured its rate of incorporation in the bacterial DNA using a liquid scintillation counter.

RESULTS

Unlike the other bacterial strains, the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was not halted by FIAU at any concentration. All the tested clinical isolates demonstrated different levels of (14)C-FIAU uptake, except for P. aeruginosa.

CONCLUSION

Radiolabeled FIAU has been successful in delineating bacterial infections, both in preclinical and pilot translational studies. In patients with immunodeficiencies, Pseudomonas infections are commonly encountered and are usually difficult to differentiate from fungal infections. The use of radiolabeled FIAU for in vivo imaging of those patients, however, would not be useful, considering the apparent lack of TK enzyme in Pseudomonas. One has to keep in mind that not all pathogenic bacteria possess the TK enzyme and as such will not all retain FIAU. Our technique is simple, and can be easily used to assess whether a certain bacterial strain of interest can or cannot be visualized using radiolabeled FIAU.