PET/CT Imaging of Human TNFα Using [89Zr]Certolizumab Pegol in a Transgenic Preclinical Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Purpose Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) drives inflammation and bone degradation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Some RA patients experience a rapid clinical response to TNFα inhibitors such as certolizumab pegol (CZP) while other patients show limited to no response. Current methods for imaging RA have limited sensitivity and do not assist in the selection of patients most likely to respond to immune-mediated therapy. Herein, we developed a novel positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer for immuno-PET imaging of TNFα in transgenic human TNFα-expressing mice.