RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Specific Imaging of Bacterial Infection Using 6″-18F-Fluoromaltotriose: A Second-Generation PET Tracer Targeting the Maltodextrin Transporter in Bacteria JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO J Nucl Med FD Society of Nuclear Medicine SP 1679 OP 1684 DO 10.2967/jnumed.117.191452 VO 58 IS 10 A1 Gayatri Gowrishankar A1 Jonathan Hardy A1 Mirwais Wardak A1 Mohammad Namavari A1 Robert E. Reeves A1 Evgenios Neofytou A1 Ananth Srinivasan A1 Joseph C. Wu A1 Christopher H. Contag A1 Sanjiv Sam Gambhir YR 2017 UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/58/10/1679.abstract AB 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose is a PET tracer that can potentially be used to image and localize most bacterial infections, much like 18F-FDG has been used to image and localize most cancers. However, unlike 18F-FDG, 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose is not taken up by inflammatory lesions and appears to be specific to bacterial infections by targeting the maltodextrin transporter that is expressed in gram-positive and gram-negative strains of bacteria. Methods: 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose was synthesized with high radiochemical purity and evaluated in several clinically relevant bacterial strains in cultures and in living mice. Results: 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose was taken up in both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains. 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose was also able to detect Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a clinically relevant mouse model of wound infection. The utility of 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose to help monitor antibiotic therapies was also evaluated in rats. Conclusion: 6″-18F-fluoromaltotriose is a promising new tracer that has significant diagnostic utility, with the potential to change the clinical management of patients with infectious diseases of bacterial origin.