Patent attributes
With only 19 amino acids, Duramycin is the smallest known polypeptide that has a defined 3-dimensional binding structure. Duramycin binds Phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdE) at a 1:1 ratio with high affinity and exclusive specificity. As an abundant binding target, PtdE is a major phospholipid and accounts for about 20% of the phospholipid content in mammalian cellular membranes. PtdE is externalized to the surface of apoptotic cells, and also becomes accessible in necrotic cells due to compromised plasma membrane integrity. Given the unique physicochemical properties of Duramycin and the availability of PtdE in acute cell death, the goal of this study is to develop and evaluate 99mTc-HYNIC-Duramycin as a novel molecular probe for imaging PtdE.
