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. 2025 Mar;639(8053):214-224.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08441-6. Epub 2025 Jan 22.

CD45-PET is a robust, non-invasive tool for imaging inflammation

Ali Salehi Farid #  1   2 , Jennifer E Rowley #  1   2 , Harris H Allen  1 , Isabella G Kruger  1 , Soheil Tavakolpour  1 , Kyle Neeley  1 , Min Cong  1 , Haneyeh Shahbazian  1 , Niki Dorafshani  1 , Achraf Berrada  1 , Alexander C MacDonagh  3 , Robert F Padera  2   4 , Pedro Brugarolas  2   3 , Alan B Packard  2   5 , Matthew W Rosenbaum  2   6 , Sanjay Divakaran  2   7   8 , Marcelo F Di Carli  2   7   8 , Mohammad Rashidian  9   10   11   12
Affiliations

CD45-PET is a robust, non-invasive tool for imaging inflammation

Ali Salehi Farid et al. Nature. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Imaging inflammation holds immense potential for advancing the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of many conditions1-3. The lack of a specific and sensitive positron emission tomography (PET) probe to detect inflammation is a critical challenge. To bridge this gap, we present CD45-PET imaging, which detects inflammation with exceptional sensitivity and clarity in several preclinical models. Notably, the intensity of the CD45-PET signal correlates robustly with the severity of disease in models of inflammatory lung and bowel diseases, outperforming 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET, the most widely used imaging modality for inflammation globally. Longitudinal CD45-PET imaging further enables precise monitoring of dynamic changes in tissue-specific inflammatory profiles. Finally, we developed a human CD45-PET probe for clinical translation that effectively detects human immune cells in a humanized mouse model. CD45-PET imaging holds substantial clinical promise, offering a tool for guiding diagnostic and therapeutic decisions for inflammatory diseases through a precise, whole-body assessment of the inflammation profiles of individual patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: A.S.F., J.E.R. and M.R. are inventors on a related patent application (PCT/US2024/020183) concerning the design and use of CD45-PET probes for detecting inflammation in inflammatory diseases. The other authors declare no competing interests.

References

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