Project Grant R01HL188047

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded the University of Utah $705,239 on September 1, 2026, under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) to conduct research on PET imaging as a tool to define mechanisms and stratify risk in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.

The recipient will integrate molecular imaging, immune profiling, and cardiac physiology in mechanistically relevant mouse models to test the hypothesis that positron emission tomography using fluorodeoxyglucose can serve as a non-invasive predictive imaging tool to detect and predict arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy disease development and progression. The research proposes that fluorodeoxyglucose uptake reflects immune cell infiltration within the myocardium and that CCR2 monocyte-derived macrophages represent a critical population driving arrhythmias, ventricular remodeling, and adverse outcomes. In Aim 1, the study will define the immune and cardiac cell populations responsible for PET signal, testing whether global macrophage proliferation accounts for the signal while CCR2 subsets determine disease progression. In Aim 2, the recipient will utilize targeted CCR2 immune PET with a radiotracer specific to CCR2-positive cells to directly image pathogenic macrophages and link imaging findings to arrhythmia burden, ventricular remodeling, and survival.

Performance occurs in Salt Lake City, Utah through May 31, 2031. This is assistance funding classified as a Project Grant.