Authors
Jahandideh, A., Atencio Herre, E., Nammas, W., Virta, J., Liljenback, H., Ponkamo, J., Putri, A., Zhuang, X., Rajander, J., Srinivasarao, M., Low, P. S., Lu, Y., Li, X.-G., Knuuti, J., Roivainen, A., Saraste, A.
Abstract
We investigated folate receptor-beta (FR-beta) expressed on activated macrophages as a therapeutic and imaging target in autoimmune myocarditis (AIM). Treatment with a folate-aminopterin conjugate (EC2319) targeting FR-beta-positive macrophages significantly reduced macrophage infiltration compared to saline in rat experimental AIM (P < 0.001). After immunization, FR-beta; targeting positron emission tomography (PET) tracer [18F]FOL detected myocardial inflammatory lesions and revealed reduction in inflammation following EC2319 treatment relative to saline or tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitor Etanercept (P < 0.001). [18F]FOL PET signal correlated with myocardial CD68-positive macrophage content (r = 0.720, P < 0.001). These findings demonstrate that EC2319 attenuates myocardial inflammation in AIM and underscore the pathogenic role of FR-beta-positive macrophages. [18F]FOL PET provides a noninvasive means of detecting myocardial inflammatory activity and therapeutic response.
Preprint server:
bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 04 Nov 2025.
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