ABSTRACT
Theranostic nanoparticles with both imaging and therapeutic abilities are highly promising in successful diagnosis and treatment of the most devastating cancers. In this study, the dual-modal imaging and photothermal effect of hyaluronan (HA)-modified superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (HA-SPIONs), which was developed in a previous study, were investigated for CD44 HA receptor-overexpressing breast cancer in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Heat is found to be rapidly generated by near-infrared laser range irradiation of HA-SPIONs. When incubated with CD44 HA receptor-overexpressing MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro, HA-SPIONs exhibited significant specific cellular uptake and specific accumulation confirmed by Prussian blue staining. The in vitro and in vivo results of magnetic resonance imaging and photothermal ablation demonstrated that HA-SPIONs exhibited significant negative contrast enhancement on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and photothermal effect targeted CD44 HA receptor-overexpressing breast cancer. All these results indicated that HA-SPIONs have great potential for effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Dextrans/chemistry , Hyaluronic Acid/chemistry , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Magnetite Nanoparticles/therapeutic use , Animals , Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Breast Neoplasms/therapy , Cell Line, Tumor , Contrast Media/chemistry , Dextrans/pharmacokinetics , Female , Humans , Hyaluronan Receptors/metabolism , Magnetite Nanoparticles/chemistry , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Theranostic Nanomedicine/methods , Xenograft Model Antitumor AssaysABSTRACT
To develop an efficient probe for targeted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of liver carcinoma, the surface modification of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) was carried out by conjugating a naturally-occurring glycosaminoglycan with specific biological recognition to human hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG2) cells. These modified SPIOs have good water dispersibility, superparamagnetic property, cytocompatibility and high magnetic relaxivity for MR imaging. When incubated with HepG2 cells, they demonstrated significant cellular uptake and specific accumulation, as confirmed by Prussian blue staining and confocal microscopy. The in vitro MR imaging of HepG2 cells and in vivo MR imaging of HepG2 tumors confirmed their effectiveness for targeted MR imaging of liver carcinoma.
