Multimodal molecular imaging of atherosclerosis: Nanoparticles functionalized with scFv fragments of an anti-αIIbβ3 antibody

Abstract Due to the wealth of actors involved in the development of atherosclerosis, molecular imaging based on the targeting of specific markers would substantiate the diagnosis of life-threatening atheroma plaques. To this end, TEG4 antibody is a promising candidate targeting the activated platelets (integrin αIIbβ3) highly represented within the plaque. In this study, scFv antibody fragments were used to functionalize multimodal imaging nanoparticles. This grafting was performed in a regio-selective way to preserve TEG4 activity and the avidity of the nanoparticles was studied with respect to the number of grafted antibodies. Subsequently, taking advantage of the nanoparticle bimodality, both near infrared fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging of the atheroma plaque were performed in the ApoE−/− mouse model. Here we describe the design of the targeted nanoparticles, and a quantification method for their detection in mice, both ex vivo and in vivo, highlighting their value as a potential diagnosis agent.