Imaging of Atherosclerosis With 68Ga-MSA

Despite of intensive efforts, no specific ath¬erosclerosis-targeting agent labeled with positron emitter is not yet available. Fortunately, some scientists made the major advance in the field of clinical atherosclerosis molecular imaging by the metabolic PET reporter agent 18F(fluorine-18)-FDG(Fludeoxyglucose) applied to noninvasively image plaque macrophages in carotid arteries. However, coronary and cerebral arterial segments remain uninterpretable due to metabolic property of 18F-FDG. Applying the character of the terminal mannose residues of MSA binding with the mannose receptors of macrophages in atherosclerosis, we investigate whether 68Ga-MSA can be a novel agent for non-invasive molecular imaging of atherosclerotic lesion in PET.