Renal vascular inflammation induced by Western diet in ApoE-null mice quantified by ¹⁹F NMR of VCAM-1 targeted nanobeacons

We have designed multifunctional nanoparticulate reporter bioprobes capable of targeting vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), which is up-regulated in numerous inflammatory processes. These perfluorocarbon-cored nanoparticles emit a unique ¹⁹F magnetic resonance (MR) signature, providing the potential to localize and quantify VCAM-1 expression in early atherosclerosis. Nanoparticle-VCAM-1 targeting specificity was confirmed by in vitro binding and competition studies. ApoE-null and control C57-BL6 mice (n = 6/group), fed a Western diet for 35 weeks, were injected i.v. with targeted or non-targeted nanoparticles. After two hours, kidneys were excised and prepared for analysis. ApoE-null kidneys exhibited increased VCAM-1-targeted nanoparticle content over healthy controls by ¹⁹F MR spectroscopy (36.5+8.8 vs. 9.3+2.2 × 10⁸/g, P < .05), which correlated with increased VCAM-1 staining (2.5 ± 1.3% vs. 0.9 ± 0.3%, P < .05); their relative biodistributions were confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and MR imaging. These molecular imaging agents offer new approaches for detection, quantification, and longitudinal evaluation of early inflammation utilising ¹⁹F MR spectroscopy and imaging. From the Clinical Editor: Multifunctional nanoparticulate reporter bioprobes capable of targeting vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) are reported in this paper. These perfluorocarbon-cored nanoparticles offer new approaches for detection, quantification, and longitudinal evaluation of early inflammation utilising 19F MR spectroscopy and imaging.