[11C]PS13 PET Imaging of Neuroinflammation in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) affects ~6.7 million Americans and is a powerful independent risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline and dementia, playing a major role in vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). Neuroinflammation, and particularly microglial activation, is a leading mechanistic hypothesis for HFrEF-associated cognitive decline, driven by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion and systemic inflammatory signaling. However, direct in vivo evidence of neuroinflammation in living HFrEF patients is lacking. Sacubitril-valsartan (an angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor [ARNI]) is guideline-directed first-line therapy for HFrEF. Beyond established cardiovascular benefits, epidemiological data demonstrate a >30% reduction in incident dementia and cognitive decline with sacubitril-valsartan vs. standard renin-angiotensin inhibitors over 3 years, suggesting neuroprotective properties. These may be mechanistically linked to anti-inflammatory actions via natriuretic peptide signaling and neprilysin-mediated peptide degradation, a hypothesis that has not yet ben=en testedhas not yet been tested in the living human brain. [11C]PS13 is a novel PET radioligand developed at Stony Brook University targeting cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), a microglial-specific marker of neuroinflammatory activity.is a novel PET radioligand, co-developed by study co-investigator Dr. Min-Jeong Kim, that selectively targets cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), which is primarily localized in microglia and serves as a biomarker of microglial density and neuroinflammatory activity. [11C]PS13 has demonstrated excellent selectivity and signal-to-noise in non-human primates and healthy humans (Kim et al., J Nucl Med 2018; Kim et al., Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2020), and elevated binding in Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies compared to controls.and increased binding in Alzheimer's disease compared with age-matched healthy controls; work in dementia with Lewy bodies is ongoing. The present study extends [11C]PS13 PET to patients with HFrEF to: (1) establish feasibility of this neuroimaging approach in a cardiac population; (2) characterize baseline brain microglial density (COX-1 expression) in HFrEF patients with mild cognitive impairment; and (3) generate preliminary effect size data for changes in neuroinflammation after sacubitril-valsartan initiation. In addition to PET imaging, participants will undergo a comprehensive neurocognitive assessment at baseline and follow-up, including evaluation of global cognition, processing speed, executive function, free recall, depression, loneliness, social isolation, social network, and instrumental activities of daily living. This AHA-funded pilot will provide the foundational data for a more definitive mechanistic study.The study will enroll 18 participants under a single protocol (6 supported by the American Heart Association and 12 by the National Institute on Aging, R21AG102953), with data pooled for analysis. [11C]PS13 is administered under FDA IND 177118, and an independent, NIA-appointed Data and Safety Monitoring Board oversees participant safety, data quality, and study progress. This pilot will provide the foundational data for a more definitive mechanistic study.