Chemokine receptors: Key for molecular imaging of inflammation in atherosclerosis

Excerpt

Atherosclerosis, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, is a progressive inflammatory disease characterized by the development of lipid-rich plaque lesions within arterial walls that extend into the vascular lumen. It is the underlying basis of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including myocardial infarction, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease.1 Despite major advances in risk factor modification, sophisticated anatomic and functional imaging tools, new therapeutics and state of the art revascularization techniques, by 2030 the prevalence of atherosclerotic heart disease and its complications are projected to increase by 12% causing significant financial burden.2,3 In the clinical PET imaging of atherosclerosis, ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F FDG) is the most often used radiotracer, although it provides little information about plaque status, vulnerability, likelihood of clinical event, or variation of inflammatory profile post treatment. Thus, investigative radiochemistry teams are putting their efforts toward developing molecular imaging agents that target biomarkers overexpressed during the initiation, progression, and potentially impending rupture of atherosclerotic lesions. Targets include vascular cell adhesion molecules, metalloproteinases, natriuretic peptide clearance receptors, and, most recently, chemokine receptors.4‐12 Some of these targeted radiotracers have been translated for human atherosclerosis imaging.13,14 …