Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Atherosclerotic Plaque at Clinically Relevant Field Strengths (1T) by Targeting the Integrin α4β1.

ABSTRACT: Inflammation drives the degradation of atherosclerotic plaque, yet there are no non-invasive techniques available for imaging overall inflammation in atherosclerotic plaques, especially in the coronary arteries. To address this, we have developed a clinically relevant system to image overall inflammatory cell burden in plaque. Here, we describe a targeted contrast agent (THI0567-targeted liposomal-Gd) that is suitable for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and binds with high affinity and selectivity to the integrin α4β1(very late antigen-4, VLA-4), a key integrin involved in recruiting inflammatory cells to atherosclerotic plaques. This liposomal contrast agent has a high T1 relaxivity (~2 × 10⁵ mM^-1s^-1 on a particle basis) resulting in the ability to image l

SUBMITTER: Woodside DG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5829217 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature