Abstract

Extensive angiogenesis is a characteristic feature in the synovial tissue of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from a very early stage of the disease onward and constitutes a crucial event for the development of the proliferative synovium. This process is markedly intensified in patients with prolonged disease duration, high disease activity, disease severity, and significant inflammatory cell infiltration. Angiogenesis is therefore an interesting target for the development of new therapeutic approaches as well as disease monitoring strategies in RA. To this end, nuclear imaging modalities represent valuable non-invasive tools that can selectively target molecular markers of angiogenesis and accurately and quantitatively track molecular changes in multiple joints simultaneously. This systematic review summarizes the imaging markers used for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and/or positron emission tomography (PET) approaches, targeting pathways and mediators involved in synovial neo-angiogenesis in RA.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7071
JournalInternational journal of molecular sciences
Volume23
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2022

Keywords

  • PET
  • SPECT
  • angiogenesis
  • hybrid imaging
  • molecular imaging
  • rheumatoid arthritis
  • scintigraphy

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