Yes / Vascular calcification is a complex biological process that is a hallmark of atherosclerosis.
While macrocalcification confers plaque stability, microcalcification is a key feature of highrisk
atheroma and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Positron emission
tomography and X-ray computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging of atherosclerosis using
18F-sodium fluoride (18F-NaF) has the potential to identify pathologically high-risk nascent
microcalcification. However, the precise molecular mechanism of 18F-NaF vascular uptake is
still unknown. Here we use electron microscopy, autoradiography, histology and preclinical
and clinical PET/CT to analyse 18F-NaF binding. We show that 18F-NaF adsorbs to calcified
deposits within plaque with high affinity and is selective and specific. 18F-NaF PET/CT
imaging can distinguish between areas of macro- and microcalcification. This is the only
currently available clinical imaging platform that can non-invasively detect microcalcification
in active unstable atherosclerosis. The use of 18F-NaF may foster new approaches to
developing treatments for vascular calcification.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/10328 |
| Date | 07 July 2015 |
| Creators | Irkle, A., Vesey, A.T., Lewis, D.Y., Skepper, J.N., Bird, Joseph, Dweck, M.R., Joshi, F.R., Gallagher, F.A., Warburton, E.A., Bennett, M.R., Brindle, K.M., Newby, D.E., Rudd, J.H., Davenport, A.P. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Published version |
| Rights | © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material., CC-BY |
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