18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an autoimmune/autoinflammatory disease affecting large vessels in patients over 50 years old. The disease presents as an acute inflammatory response with two phenotypes, cranial GCA and large-vessel vasculitis (LV)-GCA, involving the thoracic aorta and its branches. 18F...

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Main Authors: Dimitris Anastasios Palamidas, Georgios Kalykakis, Dimitra Benaki, Loukas Chatzis, Ourania D. Argyropoulou, Panagiota Palla, Antonia Kollia, Pavlos Kafouris, Marinos Metaxas, Andreas V. Goules, Emmanuel Mikros, Konstantinos Kambas, Constantinos D. Anagnostopoulos, Athanasios G. Tzioufas
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Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Cells
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/13/22/1851
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author Dimitris Anastasios Palamidas
Georgios Kalykakis
Dimitra Benaki
Loukas Chatzis
Ourania D. Argyropoulou
Panagiota Palla
Antonia Kollia
Pavlos Kafouris
Marinos Metaxas
Andreas V. Goules
Emmanuel Mikros
Konstantinos Kambas
Constantinos D. Anagnostopoulos
Athanasios G. Tzioufas
author_facet Dimitris Anastasios Palamidas
Georgios Kalykakis
Dimitra Benaki
Loukas Chatzis
Ourania D. Argyropoulou
Panagiota Palla
Antonia Kollia
Pavlos Kafouris
Marinos Metaxas
Andreas V. Goules
Emmanuel Mikros
Konstantinos Kambas
Constantinos D. Anagnostopoulos
Athanasios G. Tzioufas
author_sort Dimitris Anastasios Palamidas
collection DOAJ
description Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an autoimmune/autoinflammatory disease affecting large vessels in patients over 50 years old. The disease presents as an acute inflammatory response with two phenotypes, cranial GCA and large-vessel vasculitis (LV)-GCA, involving the thoracic aorta and its branches. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) is among the imaging techniques contributing to diagnosing patients with systemic disease. However, its association with soluble inflammatory markers is still elusive. This proof-of-concept study aims to identify novel soluble serum biomarkers in PET/CT-positive patients with LV-GCA and associate them with active (0 months) and inactive disease (6 months following treatment), in sequential samples. The most-diseased-segment target-to-background ratio (TBR<sub>MDS</sub>) was calculated for 13 LV-GCA patients, while 14 cranial GCA and 14 Polymyalgia Rheumatica patients with negative initial PET/CT scans served as disease controls. Serum macrophage-related cytokines were evaluated by cytometric bead array (CBA). Finally, previously published NMR/metabolomics data acquired from the same blood sampling were analyzed along with PET/CT findings. TBR<sub>MDS</sub> was significantly increased in active versus inactive disease (3.32 vs. 2.65, <i>p</i> = 0.006). The analysis identified nine serum metabolites as more sensitive to change from the active to inactive state. Among them, choline levels were exclusively altered in the LV-GCA group but not in the disease controls. Cytokine levels were not associated with PET/CT activity. Combining CRP, ESR, and TBR<sub>MDS</sub> with choline levels, a composite index was generated to distinguish active and inactive LV-GCA (20.4 vs. 11.62, <i>p</i> = 0.001). These preliminary results could pave the way for more extensive studies integrating serum metabolomic parameters with PET/CT imaging data to extract sensitive composite disease indexes useful for everyday clinical practice.
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spelling doaj-art-720d7363f7b14ae8a5e545d461fe3f122025-08-20T02:28:04ZengMDPI AGCells2073-44092024-11-011322185110.3390/cells1322185118F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept StudyDimitris Anastasios Palamidas0Georgios Kalykakis1Dimitra Benaki2Loukas Chatzis3Ourania D. Argyropoulou4Panagiota Palla5Antonia Kollia6Pavlos Kafouris7Marinos Metaxas8Andreas V. Goules9Emmanuel Mikros10Konstantinos Kambas11Constantinos D. Anagnostopoulos12Athanasios G. Tzioufas13Department of Pathophysiology and Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11526 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Informatics, Ionian University, 49100 Kerkyra, GreeceDepartment of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Pathophysiology and Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11526 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Pathophysiology and Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11526 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Pathophysiology and Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11526 Athens, GreecePET-CT Department & Preclinical Imaging Unit, Center for Experimental Surgery, Clinical & Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, GreecePET-CT Department & Preclinical Imaging Unit, Center for Experimental Surgery, Clinical & Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, GreecePET-CT Department & Preclinical Imaging Unit, Center for Experimental Surgery, Clinical & Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Pathophysiology and Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11526 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, GreeceLaboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Immunology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, 11521 Athens, GreecePET-CT Department & Preclinical Imaging Unit, Center for Experimental Surgery, Clinical & Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Pathophysiology and Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11526 Athens, GreeceGiant cell arteritis (GCA) is an autoimmune/autoinflammatory disease affecting large vessels in patients over 50 years old. The disease presents as an acute inflammatory response with two phenotypes, cranial GCA and large-vessel vasculitis (LV)-GCA, involving the thoracic aorta and its branches. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) is among the imaging techniques contributing to diagnosing patients with systemic disease. However, its association with soluble inflammatory markers is still elusive. This proof-of-concept study aims to identify novel soluble serum biomarkers in PET/CT-positive patients with LV-GCA and associate them with active (0 months) and inactive disease (6 months following treatment), in sequential samples. The most-diseased-segment target-to-background ratio (TBR<sub>MDS</sub>) was calculated for 13 LV-GCA patients, while 14 cranial GCA and 14 Polymyalgia Rheumatica patients with negative initial PET/CT scans served as disease controls. Serum macrophage-related cytokines were evaluated by cytometric bead array (CBA). Finally, previously published NMR/metabolomics data acquired from the same blood sampling were analyzed along with PET/CT findings. TBR<sub>MDS</sub> was significantly increased in active versus inactive disease (3.32 vs. 2.65, <i>p</i> = 0.006). The analysis identified nine serum metabolites as more sensitive to change from the active to inactive state. Among them, choline levels were exclusively altered in the LV-GCA group but not in the disease controls. Cytokine levels were not associated with PET/CT activity. Combining CRP, ESR, and TBR<sub>MDS</sub> with choline levels, a composite index was generated to distinguish active and inactive LV-GCA (20.4 vs. 11.62, <i>p</i> = 0.001). These preliminary results could pave the way for more extensive studies integrating serum metabolomic parameters with PET/CT imaging data to extract sensitive composite disease indexes useful for everyday clinical practice.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/13/22/1851giant cell arteritislarge vessel vasculitiscytokinesmetabolomics18F-FDG PET-CT
spellingShingle Dimitris Anastasios Palamidas
Georgios Kalykakis
Dimitra Benaki
Loukas Chatzis
Ourania D. Argyropoulou
Panagiota Palla
Antonia Kollia
Pavlos Kafouris
Marinos Metaxas
Andreas V. Goules
Emmanuel Mikros
Konstantinos Kambas
Constantinos D. Anagnostopoulos
Athanasios G. Tzioufas
18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study
Cells
giant cell arteritis
large vessel vasculitis
cytokines
metabolomics
18F-FDG PET-CT
title 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_full 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_fullStr 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_full_unstemmed 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_short 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Large-Vessel Vasculitis During Active and Inactive Disease Stages Is Associated with the Metabolic Profile, but Not the Macrophage-Related Cytokines: A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_sort 18f fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography computed tomography in large vessel vasculitis during active and inactive disease stages is associated with the metabolic profile but not the macrophage related cytokines a proof of concept study
topic giant cell arteritis
large vessel vasculitis
cytokines
metabolomics
18F-FDG PET-CT
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/13/22/1851
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