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on December 24, 2007

Circulation. 2007
Published online before print December 24, 2007, doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.741181
A more recent version of this article appeared on January 22, 2008
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Submitted on August 3, 2007
Accepted on October 19, 2007

Nanoparticle PET-CT Imaging of Macrophages in Inflammatory Atherosclerosis

Matthias Nahrendorf MD, Hanwen Zhang PhD, Sheena Hembrador BS, Peter Panizzi PhD, David E. Sosnovik MD, Elena Aikawa MD, PhD, Peter Libby MD, Filip K. Swirski PhD, and Ralph Weissleder MD, PhD*

From the Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (M.N., R.W.); Center for Molecular Imaging Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown (M.N., H.Z., S.H., P.P., D.E.S., E.A., F.K.S., R.W.); Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center on Atherosclerosis at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (M.N., E.A., P.L., R.W.); Department of Cardiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (D.E.S.); and Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass (P.L.).

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rweissleder{at}mgh.harvard.edu.

Background—Macrophages participate centrally in atherosclerosis, and macrophage markers (eg, CD68, MAC-3) correlate well with lesion severity and therapeutic modulation. On the basis of the avidity of lesional macrophages for polysaccharide-containing supramolecular structures such as nanoparticles, we have developed a new positron emission tomography (PET) agent with optimized pharmacokinetics to allow in vivo imaging at tracer concentrations.

Methods and Results—A dextranated and DTPA-modified magnetofluorescent 20-nm nanoparticle was labeled with the PET tracer 64Cu (1 mCi/0.1 mg nanoparticles) to yield a PET, magnetic resonance, and optically detectable imaging agent. Peak PET activity 24 hours after intravenous injection into mice deficient in apolipoprotein E with experimental atherosclerosis mapped to areas of high plaque load identified by computed tomography such as the aortic root and arch and correlated with magnetic resonance and optical imaging. Accumulated dose in apolipoprotein E–deficient aortas determined by gamma counting was 260% and in carotids 392% of respective wild-type organs (P<0.05 both). Autoradiography of aortas demonstrated uptake of the agent into macrophage-rich atheromata identified by Oil Red O staining of lipid deposits. The novel nanoagent accumulated predominantly in macrophages as determined by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry of cells dissociated from aortas.

Conclusions—This report establishes the capability of a novel trimodality nanoparticle to directly detect macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques. Advantages include improved sensitivity; direct correlation of PET signal with an established biomarker (CD68); ability to readily quantify the PET signal, perform whole-body vascular surveys, and spatially localize and follow the trireporter by microscopy; and clinical translatability of the agent given similarities to magnetic resonance imaging probes in clinical trials.


Key words: atherosclerosis • imaging • inflammation • nanoparticles • positron-emission tomography


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Circulation 2008 117: 331-332. [Extract] [Full Text]



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