PET-RTRC To Develop Imaging Agent for Inflammation

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an experimental imaging agent that illuminates the location and the intensity of inflammation. The PET agent, known as Galuminox, has shown promise in imaging inflammation in the lungs of mice with acute lung injury, the researchers report in Redox Biology.

Senior author Vijay Sharma, PhD, a professor of radiology, says the tracer could give doctors more information about the severity of inflammation in diseases like COVID-19, cancer and diabetes, empowering them to make the best possible clinical decisions.

The researchers are now studying whether Galuminox can be used to study diseases characterized by chronic inflammation, such as lung transplant failure. Further development of Galuminox at MIR will be carried out in Sharma’s lab in collaboration with the PET Radiotracer Translation and Resource Center, funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Read more from the School of Medicine.