Novel PET radiotracer can help in early diagnosis of atherosclerosis: Study

Denmark: Results from a recent study published in the journal Atherosclerosis could pave way for a new approach for the early diagnosis of atherosclerosis. The study found that a novel PET radiotracer can visualize immune cell activity in the artery walls of the patients. 

"Urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) is expressed abundantly by mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) cells in the atherosclerotic plaques and can be visualized by the experimental positron emission tomography (PET) tracer [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-AE105," Harshvardhan A. Khare, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues wrote in their study. "This may help in non-invasive detection of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling during atherogenesis.

uPAR is shown to be associated with the degradation of the extracellular matrix and cancer aggressiveness. However, there is no clarity on its role in arterial atherogenesis as a molecular imaging target. Dr. Khare and colleagues, therefore, aimed to non-invasively visualize uPAR expression in atherosclerosis by a novel uPAR-targeting PET tracer. 

Molecular biology was used to examine uPAR expression by analyzing human atherosclerotic plaques and cultured cells. The researchers then performed a retrospective analysis on patients who underwent combined PET/CT (n = 10) to measure [64Cu]Cu-DOTA-AE105 uptake in five large arteries, divided into a high and low-risk group based on coronary artery calcium score (CAC score).