Targeting of S100A8/A9 for imaging of inflammatory disorders

Principal investigators: Andreas Faust, Günter Fritz
Project number: CRC 1450 A03
Project term: 01/2021–12/2028

Activated monocytes and granulocytes are key to inflammatory diseases and release the alarmin S100A8/A9 in high concentrations, promoting sterile as well as infectious inflammatory processes via TLR4 (1). We will establish a specific S100A8/A9 small molecule ligand through combination of X-ray structure analysis and chemical synthesis (2, 3). The ligand will be linked to different labels suited for PET, SPECT, fluorescent or photoacoustic imaging techniques (4).

In summary, we will create a new S100 alarmin-based imaging toolset to monitor inflammatory responses with respect to their spatial location and temporal dynamics at various scales in living organisms.

Team

Principal investigators

• Faust, Andreas, Priv.-Doz. Dr. rer. nat.
  European Institute for Molecular Imaging
• Fritz, Günter, PD Dr. rer. nat.
  Department of Cellular Microbiology, University of Hohenheim

Project members

• Lakomy, Marek
  European Institute for Molecular Imaging
• Jäger, Stefan
  Department of Cellular Microbiology, University of Hohenheim

Publications

The names of the principal investigators in our network have been bolded. Publications released prior to 2021, when funding for our network commenced, represent previous project-related work.