Recent Advances in the Molecular Imaging of Atherosclerosis

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is the major underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases, the prevalence of which is continuously increasing, thus currently standing as the leading global cause of death. This pathology gradually develops over the course of 50 or more years throughout the life of an individual under the influence of a vast number of factors, both environmental and pathophysiological. This wealth of factors has elicited much research into molecular imaging, with purely diagnostic purposes or with the hope of engineering an efficient theranostic tool. To these ends, diverse nanomaterials with desirable, tunable properties have been explored by different teams, as described in this review.

Molecular Imaging of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 in Atherosclerosis Using a Smart Multifunctional PET/MRI Nanoparticle

“…Given the impact of the disease on public health, there is a great need for effective and noninvasive imaging modalities that can provide valuable information on its biological underpinnings during plaque development. Multiple new imaging modalities have been developed during the last century, which allowed in vivo molecular imaging of vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis, including fluorescence imaging, bioluminescence imaging, single photon emission computed tomography, PET, MRI, and CT. [26][27][28][29][30] It is reported that MMPs play important roles in the occurrence and development of cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and diabetic complication. Therefore, the evaluation of the activity of a specific subset of MMPs in human diseases using clinically relevant molecular imaging techniques would be a powerful tool for the early diagnosis and assessment of the efficacy of therapy.…”

Molecular nanoprobe for diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases

“…In recent years, molecular imaging has received extensive https://ojs.luminescience.cn/ATM attention because of its ability to non-invasively visualize and quantify the physio-pathological system at the cellular or molecular level, which can be summarized based on the existing literature [29][30][31][32][33][34]. Currently, molecular imaging mainly includes fluorescence (FL) imaging, photoacoustic (PA) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound (US) imaging, computed tomography (CT) imaging, and multimodal imaging [35][36][37][38]. Among them, molecular imaging agents play essential roles that may determine the final imaging effect.…”

Nanomedicine in Thrombosis and Hemostasis: The Future of Nanotechnology in Thrombosis and Hemostasis Research and Clinical Applications

“…Over the last decade, the nanotechnology field has rapidly expanded, and several agents have been developed to tackle what is seen by many as the holy grail of cardiology: the identification of unstable atherosclerotic plaques. These and other recent advances are the focus of the contribution by Larivière et al, 11 which gives an extensive overview of the newest developments. The authors describe how physiological processes that have changed due to the underlying plaque inflammation can be harnessed for disease detection and also compare active versus passive nanoparticle targeting the plaque components.…”