Promising potential of new generation translocator protein tracers providing enhanced contrast of arthritis imaging by positron emission tomography in a rat model of arthritis

摘要

IntroductionEarly diagnosis of and subsequent monitoring of therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could benefit from detection of (sub)clinical synovitis. Imaging of (sub)clinical arthritis by targeting the translocator protein (TSPO) on activated macrophages is feasible using (R)-[¹¹C] PK11195-based positron emission tomography (PET), but clinical applications are limited by background uptake in peri-articular bone/bone marrow. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate two other TSPO ligands with potentially lower background uptake in neurological studies, [¹¹C]DPA-713 and [¹⁸F]DPA-714, in a rat model of arthritis.