Integrin Targeting and Beyond: Enhancing Cancer Treatment with Dual-Targeting RGD (Arginine-Glycine-Aspartate) Strategies.

Integrins, an important superfamily of cell adhesion receptors, play an essential role in cancer progression, metastasis, and angiogenesis, establishing them as prime targets for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Despite their significant potential, integrin-targeted therapies have faced substantial challenges in clinical trials, including variable efficacy and unmet high expectations. Nevertheless, the consistent expression of integrins on tumor and stromal cells underscores their ongoing relevance and potential.

A single-domain antibody for the detection of pathological Tau protein in the early stages of oligomerization.

Background: Soluble oligomeric forms of Tau protein have emerged as crucial players in the propagation of Tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our objective is to introduce a single-domain antibody (sdAb) named 2C5 as a novel radiotracer for the efficient detection and longitudinal monitoring of oligomeric Tau species in the human brain.

Methods: The development and production of 2C5 involved llama immunization with the largest human Tau isoform oligomers of different maturation states.

Recent Pre-Clinical Advancements in Nuclear Medicine: Pioneering the Path to a Limitless Future.

The theranostic approach in oncology holds significant importance in personalized medicine and stands as an exciting field of molecular medicine. Significant achievements have been made in this field in recent decades, particularly in treating neuroendocrine tumors using 177-Lu-radiolabeled somatostatin analogs and, more recently, in addressing prostate cancer through prostate-specific-membrane-antigen targeted radionuclide therapy. The promising clinical results obtained in these indications paved the way for the further development of this approach.

Regional CZT myocardial perfusion reserve for the detection of territories with simultaneously impaired CFR and IMR in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease: a pilot study.

Objectives: To assess the diagnostic performances of CZT myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) for the detection of territories with simultaneous impaired coronary flow reserve (CFR) and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease.

Methods: Patients were prospectively included before being referred for coronary angiography. All patients underwent CZT MPR before invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and coronary physiology assessment.

Coronary Physiology: Delivering Precision Medicine?

Coronary physiological assessment is now widely used to assess epicardial coronary lesions in cath lab. Based on clinical evidence, fractional flow reserve (FFR) is the gold standard method to select whether epicardial coronary lesions need revascularization. While additional epicardial indexes, such as instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR), are also used for revascularization decision-making, several indexes are now also available to explore the coronary microcirculation.

Non-invasive Multimodality Imaging of Coronary Vulnerable Patient.

Atherosclerotic plaque rupture or erosion remain the primary mechanism responsible for myocardial infarction and the major challenge of cardiovascular researchers is to develop non-invasive methods of accurate risk prediction to identify vulnerable plaques before the event occurs. Multimodal imaging, by CT-TEP or CT-SPECT, provides both morphological and activity information about the plaque and cumulates the advantages of anatomic and molecular imaging to identify vulnerability features among coronary plaques. However, the rate of acute coronary syndromes remains low and the mechanisms leading to adverse events are clearly more complex than initially assumed.

Noninvasive assessment of coronary microvascular dysfunction using SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging and myocardial perfusion entropy quantification in a rodent model of type 2 diabetes.

Purpose: Coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMVD) plays a major role in the occurrence of cardiovascular events (CVE). We recently suggested the clinical potential of myocardial perfusion entropy (MPE) quantification from SPECT myocardial perfusion images (MPI) for the prognosis of CVE occurrence. We hypothesized that the quantification of MPE from SPECT MPI would allow the assessment of CMVD-related MPE variations in a preclinical model of type 2 diabetes (T2D) including treatment with the anti-diabetic incretin liraglutide (LIR).

Prognosis of Coronary Atherosclerotic Burden in Non-Ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathies.

Background: Atherosclerosis is associated with a worse prognosis in many diseases such as ischemic cardiomyopathy, but its impact in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (dCMP) is lesser known. Our aim was to study the prognostic impact of coronary atherosclerotic burden (CAB) in patients with dCMP.

Methods: Consecutive patients with dCMP and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction diagnosed by concomitant analysis of invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and CMR imaging were identified from registry-database.

Comparison of Cadmium Zinc Telluride ECG-gated SPECT equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography to magnetic resonance imaging to measure right ventricular volumes and ejection fraction in patients with cardiomyopathy.

Aims: The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of right ventricular function (RVF) assessed by Cadmium Zinc Telluride ECG-gated SPECT equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography (CZT-ERNA).

Methods And Results: Twenty-one consecutive patients with cardiomyopathy (aged 54 ± 19 years; 62% male) were included. RV ejection fraction (EF) and volumes were analyzed by CZT-ERNA and compared with values obtained by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR).

Preclinical and clinical evaluation of a new method to assess cardiac insulin resistance using nuclear imaging.

Background: Myocardial insulin resistance (IR) could be a predictive factor of cardiovascular events. This study aimed to introduce a new method using I-6-deoxy-6-iodo-D-glucose (6DIG), a pure tracer of glucose transport, for the assessment of IR using cardiac dynamic nuclear imaging.

Methods: The protocol evaluated first in rat-models consisted in two 6DIG injections and one of insulin associated with planar imaging and blood sampling.

Prognostic value of SPECT myocardial perfusion entropy in high-risk type 2 diabetic patients.

Purpose: Risk stratification of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) remains suboptimal. We hypothesized that myocardial perfusion entropy (MPE) quantified from SPECT myocardial perfusion images may provide incremental prognostic value in T2D patients independently from myocardial ischemia.

Methods: T2D patients with very high and high cardiovascular risk were prospectively included (n = 166, 65 ± 12 years).

Tc-A1 as a Novel Imaging Agent Targeting Mesothelin-Expressing Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Unlabelled: Mesothelin is a membrane-associated protein overexpressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Some mesothelin-targeted therapies are in clinical development but the identification of patients eligible for such therapies is still challenging. The objective of this study was to perform the imaging of mesothelin in mice models of PDAC with a technetium-labeled anti-mesothelin single-domain antibody (Tc-A1).

In Vivo Assessment of VCAM-1 Expression by SPECT/CT Imaging in Mice Models of Human Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Recent progress in breast cancer research has led to the identification of Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (VCAM-1) as a key actor of metastatic colonization. VCAM-1 promotes lung-metastases and is associated with clinical early recurrence and poor outcome in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Our objective was to perform the in vivo imaging of VCAM-1 in mice models of TNBC.

Prospective diagnostic performance of semiconductor SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging: wall thickening analysis reduces the need for an additional prone acquisition.

Purpose: To determine whether the assessment of regional wall thickening (WT) in addition to myocardial perfusion from stress supine acquisitions could compensate for the lack of prone acquisition and the corresponding decrease in the diagnostic performance of SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods: The study group comprised 41 patients (123 vessels) with known or suspected CAD prospectively recruited for systematic prone and supine Tl stress SPECT MPI. The diagnostic performance of SPECT MPI was determined for various image sets including nongated supine images (supine NG), nongated combined prone and supine images (prone and supine NG) and gated supine images, allowing WT evaluation from NG images in addition to perfusion (supine NG + WT) using invasive coronary angiography and fractional flow reserve as the gold standards.

Safety, Biodistribution, and Dosimetry of 123I-6-Deoxy-6-Iodo-D-Glucose, a Tracer of Glucose Transport, in Healthy and Diabetic Volunteers.

Purpose: Insulin resistance is a key feature of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, in which noninvasive assessment is not currently allowed by any methodology. We previously validated an iodinated tracer of glucose transport (6DIG) and a new methodology for the in vivo quantification of cardiac insulin resistance in rodents. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety, biodistribution, and radiation dosimetry of this method using I-6DIG in 5 healthy and 6 diabetic volunteers.

Semi-automatic detection of myocardial trabeculation using cardiovascular magnetic resonance: correlation with histology and reproducibility in a mouse model of non-compaction.

Background: The definition of left ventricular (LV) non-compaction is controversial, and discriminating between normal and excessive LV trabeculation remains challenging. Our goal was to quantify LV trabeculation on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) images in a genetic mouse model of non-compaction using a dedicated semi-automatic software package and to compare our results to the histology used as a gold standard.

Methods: Adult mice with ventricular non-compaction were generated by conditional trabecular deletion of Nkx2-5.

Mapping of brain tissue hematocrit in glioma and acute stroke using a dual autoradiography approach.

Hematocrit (Hct) determines the ability of blood to carry oxygen. While changes in systemic Hct are known to impact stroke or tumor control, changes in local (tissue) Hct (tHct) induced by these diseases have however received little attention. In this study, we evaluate tHct in acute stroke and in glioma models using a new approach to map tHct across the brain, a dual isotope autoradiography, based on injections of I-labeled albumin and Tc-lalbeled red blood cells in the same animal.

Preclinical Evaluation of Mesothelin-Specific Ligands for SPECT Imaging of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Mesothelin is a cell-surface glycoprotein restricted to mesothelial cells overexpressed in several types of cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer not responding to trastuzumab or hormone-based therapies. Mesothelin-targeting therapies are currently being developed. However, the identification of patients potentially eligible for such a therapeutic strategy remains challenging.

Diagnostic value of stress thallium-201/rest technetium-99m-sestamibi sequential dual isotope high-speed myocardial perfusion imaging for the detection of haemodynamically relevant coronary artery stenosis.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of stress thallium-201/rest technetium-99m-sestamibi sequential dual-isotope high-speed myocardial perfusion imaging (DI-HS-MPI) against invasively determined fractional flow reserve (FFR).

Methods: Fifty-four consecutive patients prospectively underwent DI-HS-MPI before invasive coronary angiography. Perfusion was scored visually by summed stress score on a patient and coronary territory basis.

SPECT myocardial ischemia in the absence of obstructive CAD: Contribution of the invasive assessment of microvascular dysfunction.

Coronary microvascular dysfunction has recently emerged as a major independent prognostic factor and can be invasively assessed by coronary flow reserve (CFR) and the index of microvascular resistance (IMR). The incremental prognostic value of myocardial ischemia from SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) over clinical characteristics, cardiac risk factors, and stress test data for the prediction of hard cardiac events (myocardial infarction and cardiac death) has been well demonstrated over the last two decades regardless of the absence or presence of epicardial CAD. Recently developed semi-conductor, cardiac-dedicated cameras allow for decreased acquisition times and systematic procubitus and decubitus acquisitions thereby limiting the occurrence of false positives historically attributable to artefactual motion, attenuation, and digestive artifacts.

Evaluation of Imaging Strategy to Optimize and Improve Outcome of Transcatheter Aortic Valvular Implantation.

Cardiac computed tomography (CT) provides additional information with ultrasound in the transcatheter heart valve (THV) size selection. However, the influence of these incremental data on outcomes has not been evaluated in a randomized study. A single-center prospective, randomized, and open study was performed.

Evaluation of Antiatherogenic Properties of Ezetimibe Using H-Labeled Low-Density-Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Tc-cAbVCAM1-5 SPECT in ApoE Mice Fed the Paigen Diet.

The addition of ezetimibe, an intestinal cholesterol absorption inhibitor, to statin therapy has recently shown clinical benefits in the Improved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial by reducing low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels more than statin therapy alone. Here, we investigated the mechanisms by which inhibition of intestinal cholesterol absorption might contribute to the clinically observed reduction in cardiovascular events by evaluating its effect on inflammatory plaque development in apolipoprotein E mice. Apolipoprotein E mice were fed the Paigen diet (1.