title: Assessment of atherosclerotic plaques in the rabbit abdominal aorta with interleukin-8 monoclonal antibody-targeted ultrasound microbubbles.
abstract: In this study, we aimed to prepare a neovascularization-relevant inflammatory cytokine-targeted ultrasound contrast agent and apply it in the ultrasound imaging of atherosclerotic plaque. An interleukin-8 (IL-8) monoclonal antibody was conjugated to SonoVue microbubbles using the N-succinimidyl-3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate cross-linking method. Then, a prepared IL-8-targeted contrast agent was used for contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU) to detect rabbit abdominal aorta atherosclerotic plaque and to investigate the imaging characteristics of atherosclerotic plaque with the contrast agent. We found that an IL-8 monoclonal antibody can be successfully coupled to SonoVue microbubbles with stable biological characteristics. CEU with this IL-8-targeted contrast agent can increase the atherosclerotic plaque detection sensitivity, with stronger echo, so that three more plaques were detected compared with using non-targeted SonoVue microbubbles. Thus, an inflammatory cytokine-targeting ultrasound contrast agent carrying IL-8 monoclonal antibody can provide unique advantages for researching the characteristics of atherosclerotic plaque.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, The Second People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Qingnian Road 176, Kunming 650021, China. yongpinglu@yeah.net
authors.forename: Yongping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Yueyue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yanling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Huali
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jing
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003287:Contrast Media; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000276:immunology*; D045423:Microbubbles; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D003287:Contrast Media; D016209:Interleukin-8