In patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), the quantitative assessment of disease activity is still difficult. Identification of patients who unlikely respond to therapy before or early in a course of the treatment could reduce morbidity and produce cost-savings. This project will evaluate the potential of advanced functional imaging techniques to monitor disease activity. Functional imaging will focus on two pathological features of SSc, i.e. metabolic activity evaluated by glucose analog 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), and expression of inflammation-inducible vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) evaluated by new 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 tracer. If successful, the resulting techniques may prove invaluable as tools in the clinical practice and in drug research aiming to find new targets to the treatment of SSc.
This study evaluates the potential of positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging to monitor disease activity in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). PET/CT imaging will focus on two pathological features of SSc, i.e. metabolic activity evaluated by glucose analog 18F-FDG, and expression of inflammation-inducible vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) evaluated by 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 tracer.