New tool detects small stroke that causes clots

Washington D.C: Blood clots in the arteries and veins can result in heart attack, pulmonary embolism, stroke and now a team of the researchers and scientists has found a method which detects the possibility of small thrombi in a better way than the tests which are being used.

German researchers present in the study examined that targeting the receptors of GPIIb/IIIa, the main receptor included in the clumping of platelet along with a fluorine-18F (18) which is labelled ligand is a very promising approach for imaging through diagnosis. The current modalities of imaging depending on the characteristics of the structure, like the impairment of the vascular flow, and not necessarily address the critical components of molecules.

“At present, the available techniques of diagnosis of the blood clot (thrombus) imaging depend on various modalities based on the vascular territory,” elaborated researcher Andrew W. Stephens. “A unit modality of imaging that could observe thrombi from different sources in various regions of the anatomy would be extremely valuable.”

For this preclinical research, the experts successfully grew the novel small tracer of molecule 18F-GP1 for the positron emission tomography (PET) imaging which amalgamates with a high attraction to GPIIb/IIIa receptors. 18F-GP1 presented a strong accumulation at the location of formation of thrombus, and its ability to bind was not affected by the action of the anticoagulation like the heparin and aspirin.

The tracer also showed the very fast clearance of blood and imaging through PET in a model of Cynomolgus monkey showed the detection of small arterial and venous clots, emboli and endothelial damage in the brain.

Because of the favourable pre-clinical outcomes, the first-in-human research of 18 F-GP1 is at present underway. Initial results from an intermediate analysis confirm data that resulted from preclinical tests and were showed at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) in June in 2017.