New imaging technique tracks cardiovascular disease in mice
4 March 2011
The imaging work was carried out in the Medical Engineering Centre at King's College London, which is funded by a partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Current methods of monitoring plaque build-up in patients' arteries are invasive and either fail to visualize the artery walls, such as X-ray, or can risk damaging artery walls, such as intravascular ultrasound. The new technique is a step towards developing a painless, non-invasive way to identify people who may be at risk of coronary heart disease before they show any symptoms.
The research describes a new contrast agent for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that is specific for a protein called elastin. Elastin is abundant in artery walls, so the technique allows researchers to track the build-up of plaque. The study used the new agent - known as elastin-specific magnetic resonance contrast agent, or ESMA - to investigate the build-up of plaque in mice arteries.
The contrast agent is injected into the vein, then MRI makes the protein visible without exposing the animal to harmful radiation or requiring invasive catheterisation. As elastin production is increased during plaque development, the ESMA technique clearly highlights the diseased sections of artery walls.
Professor Rene Botnar, who lead the research, said: "The potential for this research to be translated from the laboratory into clinical practice is very exciting and we hope to develop a strategy together with our industrial partner, Lantheus Medical Imaging, to earlier identify patients with heart disease and to make them aware of their problem before they have a heart attack or stroke.
"Although there is still work to do before this imaging technique can be used in patients, in the future it could offer a better way to investigate the risk of large numbers of patients developing heart disease without subjecting them to X-ray radiation or an invasive procedure.
"Combined with conventional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension or high cholesterol, assessing plaque burden in this way could allow clinicians to make a more accurate decision about how to treat their patient best - for example choosing to suggest lifestyle changes or adapting their medical treatment."
The study was a collaboration of clinical and research expertise involving scientists and clinicians based at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre, together with Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc.
The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and is published online in 'Nature Medicine'.
Image: Plaque build-up in artery (photomicrograph). Credit: Wellcome Images.
Reference
Makowski M et al. Assessment of atherosclerotic plaque burden with an elastin-specific magnetic resonance contrast agent. Nat Med 2011 [epub ahead of print]
