The Role of Attractiveness: Imaging the Interaction Between Cardiovascular and Immune System.

Chemokines and their counterpart, chemokine receptors, are a group of molecules that play a key role in regulating the trafficking of cells throughout the body. Cells that express chemokine receptors are attracted to tissues with a high concentration of the respective chemokines. Activation of chemokine pathways exerts beneficial effects on cell survival and proliferation and thereby supports the attracted cells in their functionality in host tissue (1). This mechanism is relevant for tumor spread and progression, because many tumor cells express chemokine receptors (2). It is also important in inflammatory processes and in the response to tissue damage (3), because immune cells and progenitor cells strongly express chemokine receptors. Accordingly, chemokine receptors have emerged as a target for therapy in tumors, inflammatory conditions, and regenerative approaches (1,2,4). The chemokine–chemokine receptor axis has therefore emerged as an attractive imaging target (5–7). Visualization and quantification of this molecular pathway may help in oncology (8), by