Background: The ability to noninvasively assess arterial CD206+ macrophages may lead to improved understanding of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated cardiovascular disease.
Methods: We trialed a novel macrophage-specific arterial imaging technique.
Results: We demonstrated colocalization between technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept (99mTc-tilmanocept) and CD206+ macrophages ex vivo. In vivo application of 99mTc-tilmanocept single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography revealed high-level 99mTc-tilmanocept uptake across 20.4% of the aortic surface volume among HIV-infected subjects, compared with 4.3% among non-HIV-infected subjects (P = .009). Among all subjects, aortic high-level 99mTc-tilmanocept uptake was related to noncalcified aortic plaque volume (r = 0.87; P = .003) on computed tomographic angiography, and this relationship held when we controlled for HIV status.
Conclusion: These first-in-human data introduce a novel macrophage-specific arterial imaging technique in HIV.
Clinical trials registration: NCT02542371.
Keywords: HIV-associated cardiovascular disease; arterial inflammation; atherosclerosis..
© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.