Patent ID: 8367039

Claim:
A compound of general formula (I) below: Signal-Linker-Peptide (I) in which: Signal is a signal entity; Linker, which is absent or is a chemical bond, and Peptide is a peptide comprising a VCAM-targeting peptide, the VCAM-targeting peptide defined below: X10-X11-X12-X13-X14-X15-X16-X17-X18 (SEQ ID No. 4) with: X10 selected from cysteine and methionine X11 selected from methionine and cysteine X12 selected from lysine, arginine and alanine X13 selected from threonine and serine X14 selected from aspartic acid and glutamic acid X15 selected from threonine and serine X16 selected from arginine, alanine and lysine X17 selected from leucine, isoleucine and valine X18 selected from cysteine and methionine and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of a), wherein the signal entity is selected from the group consisting of: (1) a chelate coupled to a paramagnetic metal; (2) a metal nanoparticle; and (3) a lipid nanoparticle coupled to a paramagnetic chelate, and (4) a chelate coupled to a radionuclide selected from the radioactive forms of elements consisting of Sm, Ho, Y, Pm, Gd, La, Lu, Yb, Sc, Pr, Tc, Re, Ru, Rh, Pd, Pt, Cu, Au, Ga, In, Sn, Cr, and P.