Novel Myocardial PET/CT Receptor Imaging and Potential Therapeutic Targets

Purpose of the ReviewActivation of myocardial cannabinoid type 1 receptors (CB1-R) and/or angiotensin II type 1 receptors (AT1-R) likely plays an important mechanistic role in determining the left-ventricular remodeling process in systolic heart failure. We provide an overview on novel radiotracer probes and positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging to noninvasively probe the expression of myocardial CB1-R and/or AT1-R.Recent FindingsRecent translational investigations have demonstrated the feasibility of C-11-OMAR or C-11-KR31173 and PET/CT to image and quantify myocardial CB1-R and/or AT1-R expression, respectively. There is an increasing understanding of the mechanisms of activated myocardial CB1-R and/or AT1-R to influence the left-ventricular remodeling process in systolic heart failure in different disease entities.SummaryThe review summarizes contributions of PET to image myocardial CB1-R and AT1-R expression that may have the potential to serve as a target to tailor preventive medical care in the individual patient.