Assessment of ultrasmall nanocluster for early and accurate detection of atherosclerosis using positron emission tomography/computed tomography.

ABSTRACT: The development of atherosclerosis therapy is hampered by the lack of molecular imaging tools to identify the relevant biomarkers and determine the dynamic variation in vivo. Here, we show that a chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) targeted gold nanocluster conjugated with extracellular loop 1 inverso peptide (AuNC-ECL1i) determines the initiation, progression and regression of atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E knock-out (ApoE^-/-) mouse models. The CCR2 targeted ⁶⁴Cu-AuNC-ECL1i reveals sensitive detection of early atherosclerotic lesions and progression of plaques in ApoE^-/- mice. CCR2 targeting specificity was confirmed by the competitive receptor blocking studies. In a mouse model of aortic arch transplantation, ⁶⁴Cu-AuNC-ECL1i accurately detects the regression of plaques. Human atherosclerotic tissues show high expression of CCR2 related to the status of the disease. This study confirms CCR2 as a useful marker for atherosclerosis and points to the potential of ⁶⁴Cu-AuNC-ECL1i as a targeted molecular imaging probe for future clinical translation.

SUBMITTER: Sultan D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8684599 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature