TY - JOUR T1 - Metallo-Fluorocarbon Nanoemulsion for Inflammatory Macrophage Detection via PET and MRI JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO - J Nucl Med DO - 10.2967/jnumed.120.255273 SP - jnumed.120.255273 AU - Chao Wang AU - Benjamin I Leach AU - Deanne Lister AU - Stephen R Adams AU - Hongyan Xu AU - Carl K. Hoh AU - Patrick McConville AU - Jing Zhang AU - Karen Messer AU - Eric Ahrens Y1 - 2020/12/01 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2020/12/04/jnumed.120.255273.abstract N2 - Inflammation is associated with a range of serious human conditions including autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The ability to image active inflammatory processes greatly enhances our ability to diagnose and treat these diseases at an early stage. We describe molecular compositions enabling sensitive and precise imaging of inflammatory hotspots in vivo. Methods: Functionalized fluorocarbon nanoemulsion, with fluorous-encapsulated radiometal chelate (FERM), serves as a platform for multimodal imaging probe development. The 19F-containing FERM nanoemulsion encapsulates 89Zr in the fluorous oil, via fluorinated hydroxamic acid chelate. Simple mixing of radiometal with pre-formed aqueous nanoemulsion prior to use yields FERM, a stable in vivo cell tracer, enabling whole-body 89Zr positron emission tomography (PET) and 19F magnetic resonance imaging (19F MRI) following a single intravenous injection. Results: FERM nanoemulsion is intrinsically taken up by phagocytic immune cells, particularly macrophages, with high specificity. FERM stability is demonstrated by a high correlation between 19F and 89Zr content in blood (correlation coefficient > 0.99). Image sensitivity is observed in an acute infection rodent model at low dose (37 kBq). The versatility of FERM is further demonstrated in inflammatory bowel disease and 4T1 tumor models. Conclusion: Multimodal detection using FERM yields robust whole-body lesion detection and leverages the strengths of combined PET/19F MRI. FERM nanoemulsion production is scalable and potentially useful for precise diagnosis, stratification and treatment monitoring of inflammatory diseases. ER -