Comparison of a New 68Ga-Radiolabelled PET Imaging Agent sCD146 and RGD Peptide for In Vivo Evaluation of Angiogenesis in Mouse Model of Myocardial Infarction

Anaïs Moyon (1, 2, 3) , Philippe Garrigue (1, 2, 3) , Samantha Fernandez (2) , Fabien Hubert (4) , Laure Balasse (2) , Pauline Brige (2) , Guillaume Hache (1, 2) , Vincent Nail (1, 2, 3) , Marcel Blot-Chabaud (1) , Françoise Dignat-George (1) , Francesca Rochais (4) , Benjamin Guillet (1, 2, 3)

1 C2VN - Centre recherche en CardioVasculaire et Nutrition = Center for CardioVascular and Nutrition research
2 CERIMED - Centre Européen de Recherche en Imagerie médicale
3 Service de radiothérapie - [Hôpital de la Timone - Hôpital Nord - APHM]
4 MMG - Marseille medical genetics - Centre de génétique médicale de Marseille

Ischemic vascular diseases are associated with elevated tissue expression of angiomotin (AMOT), a promising molecular target for PET imaging. On that basis, we developed an AMOT-targeting radiotracer, 68Ga-sCD146 and performed the first in vivo evaluation on a myocardial infarction mice model and then, compared AMOT expression and αvβ3-integrin expression with 68Ga-sCD146 and 68Ga-RGD2 imaging. After myocardial infarction (MI) induced by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, myocardial perfusion was evaluated by Doppler ultrasound and by 18F-FDG PET imaging. 68Ga-sCD146 and 68Ga-RGD2 PET imaging were performed. In myocardial infarction model, heart-to-muscle ratio of 68Ga-sCD146 imaging showed a significantly higher radiotracer uptake in the infarcted area of MI animals than in sham (* p = 0.04). Interestingly, we also observed significant correlations between 68Ga-sCD146 imaging and delayed residual perfusion assessed by 18F-FDG (* p = 0.04), with lowest tissue fibrosis assessed by histological staining (* p = 0.04) and with functional recovery assessed by ultrasound imaging (** p = 0.01). 68Ga-sCD146 demonstrated an increase in AMOT expression after MI. Altogether, significant correlations of early post-ischemic 68Ga-sCD146 uptake with late heart perfusion, lower tissue fibrosis and better functional recovery, make 68Ga-sCD146 a promising radiotracer for tissue angiogenesis assessment after MI.

Mots clés: angiomotin; myocardial infarction; sCD146; gallium; angiogenesis

Domaines: Médecine nucléaire; Cardiologie et système cardiovasculaire

Anaïs Moyon, Philippe Garrigue, Samantha Fernandez, Fabien Hubert, Laure Balasse, et al.. Comparison of a New 68Ga-Radiolabelled PET Imaging Agent sCD146 and RGD Peptide for In Vivo Evaluation of Angiogenesis in Mouse Model of Myocardial Infarction. Cells, 2021, 10 (9), pp.2305. ⟨10.3390/cells10092305⟩. ⟨hal-03610360⟩