Abstract

Non-invasive imaging of arthritis activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients using macrophage PET holds promise for early diagnosis and therapeutic response monitoring. Previously obtained results with macrophage tracer (R)-[11C]PK11195 were encouraging, but the imaging signal could be further improved by reduction of background uptake. Recently, the novel macrophage tracer [18F]fluoro-PEG-folate was developed. This tracer showed excellent targeting of the folate receptor β on activated macrophages in synovial tissue in a preclinical arthritic rat model. We performed three substudies to investigate the biodistribution, potential for imaging arthritis and kinetic properties of [18F]fluoro-PEG-folate in RA patients. Firstly, biodistribution demonstrated fast clearance of [18F]fluoro-PEG-folate from heart and blood vessels and no dose limiting uptake in organs. Secondly, [18F]fluoro-PEG-folate showed uptake in arthritic joints with significantly lower background and hence significantly higher target-to-background ratios as compared to reference macrophage tracer (R)-[11C]PK11195. Lastly, dynamic scanning demonstrated fast tracer uptake in affected joints, reaching a plateau after 1 minute, co-existing with a rapid blood clearance. In conclusion, this first in man study demonstrates the potential of [18F]fluoro-PEG-folate to image arthritis activity in RA with favourable imaging characteristics of rapid clearance and low background uptake, that allow for detection of inflammatory activity in the whole body.

Details

Title
First in man study of [18F]fluoro-PEG-folate PET: a novel macrophage imaging technique to visualize rheumatoid arthritis
Author
Verweij Nicki J F 1 ; Yaqub Maqsood 2 ; Bruijnen, Stefan T, G 1 ; Pieplenbosch, S 2 ; ter Wee Marieke M 1 ; Jansen, Gerrit 1 ; Chen Qingshou 3 ; Low, Philip S 3 ; Windhorst, Albert D 4 ; Lammertsma, Adriaan A 4 ; Hoekstra, Otto S 4 ; Voskuyl, Alexandre E 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; van der Laken Conny J 5 

1  Amsterdam UMC| location VUmc, Amsterdam Rheumatology and immunology Center (ARC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands 
2  Amsterdam UMC| location VUmc, Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 
3  Purdue University, Department of Chemistry and Institute for Drug Discovery, West Lafayette, USA (GRID:grid.169077.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 2197) 
4  Amsterdam UMC| location VUmc, Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.169077.e) 
5  Amsterdam UMC| location VUmc, Amsterdam Rheumatology and immunology Center (ARC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands (GRID:grid.169077.e) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57841-x
ProQuest document ID
2344526256
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.