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Macromolecular Imaging Agents Containing Lanthanides: Can Conceptual Promise Lead to Clinical Potential?

ABSTRACT: Macromolecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents are increasingly being used to improve the resolution of this noninvasive diagnostic technique. All clinically-approved T1 contrast agents are small molecule chelates of gadolinium [Gd(III)] that affect bound water proton relaxivity. Both the small size and monomeric nature of these agents ultimately limits the image resolution enhancement that can be achieved for both contrast enhancement and pharmacokinetic/biodistribution reasons. The multimeric nature of macromolecules, such as polymers, dendrimers, and noncovalent complexes of small molecule agents with proteins, have been shown to significantly increase the image contrast and resolution due to their large size and ability to incorporate multiple Gd(III) chlelation sites. Also, macromolecular agents are advantageous as they have the ability to be designed to be nontoxic, hydrophilic, easily purified, aggregation-resistant, and have controllable three-dimensional macromolecular structure housing the multiple lanthanide chelation sites. For these reasons, large molecule diagnostics have the ability to significantly increase the relaxivity of water protons within the targeted tissues and thus the image resolution for many diagnostic applications. The FDA approval of a contrast agent that consists of a reversible, non-covalent coupling of a small Gd(III) chelate with serum albumin for blood pool imaging (marketed under the trade names of Vasovist and Ablivar) proved to be one of the first diagnostic agent to capitalize on these benefits from macromolecular association in humans. However, much research and development is necessary to optimize the safety of these unique agents for in vivo use and potential clinical development. To this end, recent work in the field of polymer, dendrimer, and noncovalent complex-based imaging agents are reviewed herein and the future outlook of this field is discussed.

SUBMITTER: Bryson J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3586216 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Macromolecular Imaging Agents Containing Lanthanides: Can Conceptual Promise Lead to Clinical Potential?

Bryson Joshua J Reineke Jeffrey W JW Reineke Theresa M TM

Macromolecules 20121113 22

Macromolecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents are increasingly being used to improve the resolution of this noninvasive diagnostic technique. All clinically-approved T<sub>1</sub> contrast agents are small molecule chelates of gadolinium [Gd(III)] that affect bound water proton relaxivity. Both the small size and monomeric nature of these agents ultimately limits the image resolution enhancement that can be achieved for both contrast enhancement and pharmacokinetic/biodistribut ...[more]

PMID: 23467737

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Project description:The three-dimensional structures of macromolecules and their complexes are mainly elucidated by X-ray protein crystallography. A major limitation of this method is access to high-quality crystals, which is necessary to ensure X-ray diffraction extends to sufficiently large scattering angles and hence yields information of sufficiently high resolution with which to solve the crystal structure. The observation that crystals with reduced unit-cell volumes and tighter macromolecular packing often produce higher-resolution Bragg peaks suggests that crystallographic resolution for some macromolecules may be limited not by their heterogeneity, but by a deviation of strict positional ordering of the crystalline lattice. Such displacements of molecules from the ideal lattice give rise to a continuous diffraction pattern that is equal to the incoherent sum of diffraction from rigid individual molecular complexes aligned along several discrete crystallographic orientations and that, consequently, contains more information than Bragg peaks alone. Although such continuous diffraction patterns have long been observed--and are of interest as a source of information about the dynamics of proteins--they have not been used for structure determination. Here we show for crystals of the integral membrane protein complex photosystem II that lattice disorder increases the information content and the resolution of the diffraction pattern well beyond the 4.5-ångström limit of measurable Bragg peaks, which allows us to phase the pattern directly. Using the molecular envelope conventionally determined at 4.5 ångströms as a constraint, we obtain a static image of the photosystem II dimer at a resolution of 3.5 ångströms. This result shows that continuous diffraction can be used to overcome what have long been supposed to be the resolution limits of macromolecular crystallography, using a method that exploits commonly encountered imperfect crystals and enables model-free phasing.

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Macromolecular Imaging Agents Containing Lanthanides: Can Conceptual Promise Lead to Clinical Potential?

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Macromolecular Imaging Agents Containing Lanthanides: Can Conceptual Promise Lead to Clinical Potential?

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