title: Molecular Imaging of Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Plaques in Vivo with Osteopontin-Specific Upconversion Nanoprobes.
abstract: Owing to the high mortality rate of cardiovascular diseases, developing novel noninvasive diagnostic methods becomes urgent and mandatory. It is well-known that the rupture of vulnerable plaques directly leads to deadly consequences. However, differentiating vulnerable plaques from stable plaques remains challenging in the clinic. In the current study, osteopontin (OPN), a secreted biomarker associated with macrophages and foamy macrophages, was selected as a target for identifying the vulnerable plaques. A dual modality imaging probe was constructed by covalently attaching an OPN antibody to NaGdF4:Yb,Er@NaGdF4upconversion nanoparticles. Upon intravenous injection of the resulting probes, upconversion optical imaging was performed to visualize the plaques induced by altering the shear stress in carotid arteries of a mouse model. The imaging studies revealed that the signals of vulnerable and stable plagues induced by lowered shear stress and oscillatory shear stress, respectively, presented significantly different signal intensities, implying that the current probe and imaging strategy are potentially useful for a precise diagnosis of atherosclerosis plaques.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Bei Yi Jie 2, Zhong Guan Cun, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ruirui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital , No. 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing 100853, P. R. China.|Department of Cardiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University , Xi'an 710032, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hongyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital , No. 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing 100853, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital , No. 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing 100853, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yabin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 95 Zhong Guan Cun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chongwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 95 Zhong Guan Cun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Bei Yi Jie 2, Zhong Guan Cun, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital , No. 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing 100853, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Bei Yi Jie 2, Zhong Guan Cun, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Mingyuan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7360-3684
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D008264:Macrophages / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D061848:Optical Imaging; D053495:Osteopontin / Q000737:chemistry*; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000067996:RAW 264.7 Cells
chemical_list: D053495:Osteopontin
keywords: OPN; macrophage; molecular imaging; upconversion nanoparticle; vulnerable plaques