gallium-68 bisphosphonate

[68Ga]Ga-BP (gallium-68 buffered phosphate) is a novel, small-molecule positron emission tomography (PET) imaging radiotracer developed by the Mayo Clinic for the non-invasive detection and differentiation of bacterial infections (such as osteomyelitis) from sterile inflammation. The tracer is designed to exploit the bacterial requirement for iron; due to the similar size and charge of gallium (Ga3+) to iron (Fe3+), gallium-68 acts as an iron surrogate and is directly taken up by bacteria via membrane-bound transferrin receptors and siderophore-mediated transport systems. Preclinical studies in rat models of foreign body-associated osteomyelitis caused by MRSA, *Pseudomonas aeruginosa*, and *Klebsiella pneumoniae* have demonstrated that [68Ga]Ga-BP can successfully identify active bacterial infections with high specificity, outperforming conventional tracers like [18F]FDG and [68Ga]Ga-citrate.

Other names

Ga-BP[68Ga]Ga-BPgallium-68 buffered phosphategallium68 buffered phosphategallium 68 buffered phosphategallium-68 phosphategallium68 phosphategallium 68 phosphate