Title:Radiolabeled Peptides for Molecular Imaging of Apoptosis
Volume: 27
Issue: 41
Author(s): Mona Mosayebnia, Maliheh Hajiramezanali and Soraya Shahhosseini*
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Radiopharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Behesti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,Iran
Keywords:
Molecular imaging, Apoptosis, Phospholipids, Activated caspases, Single Photon Emission Computed
Tomography (SPECT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
Abstract: Apoptosis is a regulated cell death induced by extrinsic and intrinsic stimulants.
Tracking of apoptosis provides an opportunity for the assessment of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative
diseases as well as monitoring of cancer therapy at early stages. There are
some key mediators in apoptosis cascade, which could be considered as specific targets for
delivering imaging or therapeutic agents. The targeted radioisotope-based imaging agents are
able to sensitively detect the physiological signal pathways which make them suitable for
apoptosis imaging at a single-cell level. Radiopeptides take advantage of both the high sensitivity
of nuclear imaging modalities and favorable features of peptide scaffolds. The aim of
this study is to review the characteristics of those radiopeptides targeting apoptosis with different
mechanisms.