Detection of Aspergillus fumigatus pulmonary fungal infections in mice with 99mTc-labeled MORF oligomers targeting ribosomal RNA

Purpose Invasive aspergillosis is a major cause of infectious morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. The fungus Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) is the primary causative agent of invasive aspergillosis. However, A. fumigatus infections remain difficult to diagnose particularly in the early stages due to the lack of a rapid, sensitive and specific diagnostic approach. In this study, we investigated 99mTc labeled MORF oligomers targeting fungal ribosomal RNA (rRNA) for the imaging detection of fungal infections. Procedures Three phosphorodiamidate morpholino (MORF) oligomer (a DNA analogue) probes were designed: AGEN, complementary to a sequence of the fungal 28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) of Aspergillus, as a genus-specific probe; AFUM, complementary to the 28S rRNA sequence of A. fumigatus, as a fungus species-specific probe; and cMORF, irrelevant to all fungal species, as a control probe. The probes were conjugated with Alexa Fluor 633 carboxylic acid succinimidyl ester (AF633) for fluorescence imaging or with NHS-mercaptoacetyl triglycine (NHS-MAG3) for nuclear imaging with 99mTc and then evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Results The specific binding of AGEN and AFUM to fungal total RNA was confirmed by dot blot hybridization while specific binding of AGEN and AFUM in fixed and live A. fumigatus was demonstrated by both fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and accumulation in live cells. SPECT imaging of BALB/c mice with pulmonary A. fumigatus infections and administered 99mTc labeled AGEN and AFUM showed immediate and obvious accumulation in the infected lungs, while no significant accumulation of the control 99mTc-cMORF in the infected lung was observed. Compared to non-infected mice, with sacrifice at 1 h, the accumulation of 99mTc-AGEN and 99mTc-AFUM in the lungs of mice infected with A. fumigatus was 2 and 2.7 fold higher respectively. Conclusions In vivo targeting fungal ribosomal RNA with 99mTc labeled MORF probes AGEN and AFUM may be useful for A. fumigatus infection imaging and may provide a new strategy for the noninvasive diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis and other fungal infections.