Imaging of a localized bacterial infection with endogenous thymidine kinase using radioisotope-labeled nucleosides

The importance of noninvasive imaging methods to bacterial infections is widely recognized. To obtain bacterial infection imaging with radioisotope-labeled nucleosides, bacterial thymidine kinase (tk) activities of Salmonella typhimurium with [125I]5-iodo-1-(2′-fluoro-2′-deoxy-β-d-arabinofuranosyl)uracil ([125I]FIAU) or 3′-deoxy-3′-[18F]fluorothymidine ([18F]FLT) were measured. The infection model in BALB/c mice was imaged with [125I]FIAU or [18F]FLT using small-animal Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) or Positron Emission Tomography (PET), respectively.The accumulated radioactivity of [125I]FIAU or [18F]FLT in the two strains showed a linearly increased pattern with increasing incubation time or bacterial numbers. The image clearly demonstrated a high uptake of [125I]FIAU and [18F]FLT in the bacterial infection site. [18F]FLT uptake in the infection site of was 7.286 ± 2.405, whereas that in the uninfected site was 0.519 ± 0.561. The relative activity ratio of the infected region in relation to the uninfected region was 2.98 at 4 h after an injection with [125I]FIAU determined by biodistribution data.In conclusion, the bacterial tk activity was confirmed by the cellular uptake and imaging with [125I]FIAU or [18F]FLT. Therefore, a localized bacterial infection in living mice can be monitored using radioisotope-labeled nucleosides with a nuclear medicine imaging modality.