Serial prospective multimodal imaging of the lymphatic organs and myocardium to predict cardiac function and remodelling in patients after myocardial infarction (C02)

• Subject Area: Cardiology, Angiology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 453989101

We are conducting a prospective clinical study using multimodal imaging to monitor chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) expression in the lymph nodes, myocardium, spleen, and bone marrow after acute MI. The combination of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), echocardiography, and positron emission tomography (PET) along with blood collection for immunophenotyping will allow us to determine i) if the size of mediastinal lymph nodes and their respective PET-derived CXCR4 signals at baseline correlate with the adaptive immune response to acute cardiac injury; and ii) if they predict cardiac adverse remodelling during longitudinal fo low-up.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1525: Cardio-Immune Interfaces
• Applicant Institution: Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
• Project Heads: Dr. Theresa Wei-yi Laetitia Reiter; Professor Dr. Rudolf Werner