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A Systematic Review on Dementia and Translocator Protein (TSPO): When Nuclear Medicine Highlights an Underlying Expression
Conte M, De Feo MS, Corica F, Gorica J, Sidrak MMA, De Cristofaro F, Filippi L, Ricci M et al.. Biomolecules, 2023-03-26
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Background Translocator protein (TSPO) is a neuroinflammation hallmark. Different TSPO affinity compounds have been produced and over time, the techniques of radiolabeling have been refined. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the development of new radiotracers for dementia and neuroinflammation imaging. Methods An online search of the literature was conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases, selecting published studies from January 2004 to December 2022. The accepted studies considered the synthesis of TSPO tracers for nuclear medicine imaging in dementia and neuroinflammation. Results A total of 50 articles was identified. Twelve papers were selected from the included studies' bibliographies and 34 were excluded. Thus, 28 articles were ultimately selected for quality assessment. Conclusion Huge efforts in developing specific and stable tracers for PET/SPECT imaging have been made. The long half-life of 18 F makes this isotope a preferable choice to 11 C. An emerging limitation to this however is that neuroinflammation involves all of the brain which inhibits the possibility of detecting a slight inflammation status change in patients. A partial solution to this is using the cerebellum as a reference region and developing higher TSPO affinity tracers. Moreover, it is necessary to consider the presence of distomers and racemic compounds interfering with pharmacological tracers' effects and increasing the noise ratio in images.
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APA 7th
Conte, M., De Feo, M. S., Corica, F., Gorica, J., Sidrak, M. M. A., De Cristofaro, F., et al. (2023). A Systematic Review on Dementia and Translocator Protein (TSPO): When Nuclear Medicine Highlights an Underlying Expression. Biomolecules. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13040598
Vancouver
Conte M, De Feo MS, Corica F, Gorica J, Sidrak MMA, De Cristofaro F, et al. A Systematic Review on Dementia and Translocator Protein (TSPO): When Nuclear Medicine Highlights an Underlying Expression. Biomolecules. 2023. doi:10.3390/biom13040598. PMID: 37189346.
BibTeX
@article{conte2023-37189346,
author = {Conte, M. and De Feo, M. S. and Corica, F. and Gorica, J. and Sidrak, M. M. A. and De Cristofaro, F. and Filippi, L. and Ricci, M. and others},
title = {{A Systematic Review on Dementia and Translocator Protein (TSPO): When Nuclear Medicine Highlights an Underlying Expression}},
journal = {Biomolecules},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3390/biom13040598},
pmid = {37189346},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13040598}
}
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Key findings
- Results A total of 50 articles was identified.
Why it matters
Covering 28 articles, this review tracks the development of imaging tracers for PET and SPECT scans that bind TSPO, a protein that marks brain inflammation in dementia. The authors note a key limitation: inflammation affects the whole brain, making small changes hard to detect, partly addressed by using the cerebellum as a reference and developing tracers that bind TSPO more strongly. It is about imaging tools, not treatment.
Study details
- Study designsystematic review
- Participants50
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 51/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a systematic review of all the studies on the question. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Biomolecules) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Biomolecules: journal h-index 191 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 12 / 12 | A systematic review of all the studies on the question |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 3 / 5 | 2023 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 50 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | A review of other studies — randomisation is not credited here |
| Times cited | 0 / 7 | Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.0 citations a year over 5 year(s) since 2023 |
| Impact for its field and year | 0 / 6 | Cited 0.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Viviana Frantellizzi: h-index 25 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Sapienza University of Rome: institution h-index 1,145 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 37189346) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 51 / 100 | — |
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