Patent ID: 6375925
Filing Date: 2002-04-23
Classification: A61K

Abstract:
A method of imaging atherosclerotic plaque in a host, comprising:(a) introducing a diagnostically effective amount of detectably labeled monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof into the cardiovascular tissue of the host, wherein the monoclonal antibody is specific for oxidation specific epitopes bound by MDA2 and NA59 in plaque and binds such epitopes in vivo at a rate of about ten to twenty times the rate of binding of the monoclonal antibody to normal arterial tissue; (b) reducing residual radioactivity in the host by introducing a sufficient amount of an antigen, specific for the detectably labeled monoclonal antibody, into the host to bind any detectably labeled monoclonal antibody unbound following its introduction in step (a); and, (c) determining whether the monoclonal antibody has bound oxidized LDL, wherein binding of said antibody in cardiovascular tissue is indicative of the presence in such tissue of atherosclerotic plaque.