Radioactive Tracer Shines the Floodlights on Inflammation

A patient checks into the hospital with difficulty breathing. Is inflammation to blame? How can physicians visualize areas of inflammation in the respiratory system in order to choose the best course of action? Though blood tests can be used to look for systemic inflammation, it’s difficult to pinpoint which organ systems are most affected. This often hampers the diagnosis and treatment, especially of chronic diseases.

To fill this clinical gap, scientists have developed a new imaging agent called Galuminox. This radioactive chemical was specially designed to work with positron-emission tomography, or PET scans, to noninvasively measure and track inflammation in the body.

“We focused on lung injury in this paper, but in principle, this tracer could be applied to other conditions where you have inflammation: atherosclerosis, cardio- and pulmonary toxicity caused by chemotherapy, transplant rejection, you name it,” said senior author of the study, Vijay Sharma from Washington University.

According to the authors, Galuminox also has the potential to transform how COVID-19 cases are diagnosed. “If we had approval today, this tracer could even be used for COVID-19. The kinds of scans doctors can do right now on COVID patients’ lungs tell you whether there is inflammation there but not how bad it is. A…