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(Circulation. 2007;116:1052-1061.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Contemporary Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine

Molecular Imaging of Cardiovascular Disease

Farouc A. Jaffer, MD, PhD; Peter Libby, MD; Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD

From the Center for Molecular Imaging Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown (F.A.J., R.W.); Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (F.A.J., P.L., R.W.); Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (P.L.); and Cardiovascular Research Center and Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston (F.A.J.).

Correspondence to Farouc Jaffer, MGH-CMIR, 149 13th St, Room 5406, Charlestown, MA 02129. E-mail fjaffer@mgh.harvard.edu

Key Words: atherosclerosis • magnetic resonance imaging • thrombosis • myocardial infarction • diagnostic imaging

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
Molecular imaging aims at sensing specific molecular targets, fundamental biological processes, and certain cell types in living subjects. An integrative discipline rooted in the biological, chemical, and imaging sciences, molecular imaging has broad applications in biology and drug discovery^1–5 and increasingly within cardiovascular disease.^6–12 Before discussing key factors spurring the growth of this field, we first briefly review 2 essential components of this technology: imaging agents and imaging hardware.

	Imaging Agents

 
Molecular imaging requires highly sensitive and specific imaging agents. Such agents incorporate 2 key factors: (1) a signal detection compound and the corresponding imaging hardware platform and (2) an affinity ligand that recognizes the intended molecular or cellular target. Favorable targets include those with established biological and clinical importance in a disease of interest, as well as targets with inherent signal amplification potential such as internalizing receptors or enzymes. Inaccessible and low-abundance targets (DNA, RNA, sparsely expressed proteins) present greater challenges, particularly in a noninvasive, clinical setting.

Signal detection compounds include radioisotopes for positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging, paramagnetic (gadolinium)/superparamagnetic (iron oxide) agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorochromes for near-infrared fluorescence imaging, and microbubbles for ultrasound imaging. Certain agents can exhibit unique physical changes favorable for signal amplification when spaced close together (eg, quenching of fluorochromes^13–18 or augmented relaxivity of magnetic substrates^19–21). These tags can form the basis of imaging agents with inherent chemical amplification capabilities. Amplification strategies generally enable higher target-to-background ratios, a key strategy for developing sufficiently sensitive agents for clinical use.

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