Yin J, Yao D, Yin G, Huang Z, Pu X. Peptide-Decorated Ultrasmall Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles as Active Targeting MRI Contrast Agents for Ovarian Tumors.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2019;
11:41038-41050. [PMID:
31618000 DOI:
10.1021/acsami.9b14394]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely applied in medical research and diagnosis, and a MRI contrast medium plays a crucial role in improving the sensitivity of detection. Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxides (USPIOs) exhibit the potential as a T2 enhancement contrast medium for MRI due to their excellent magnetic response performance; however, to endow them with specific tumor targetability, long-term circulation performance has always been a hot topic in this field. In this study, a well-designed procedure of chemical coprecipitation, surface modification, and peptide grafting was applied to prepare the active tumor-targeting USPIOs@F127-WSG, in which Pluronic F127 (F127) and the peptide WSGPGVWGASVK (peptide-WSG) were selected as the template agent and the ovarian tumor-targeting ligand, respectively. The results showed that single USPIOs@F127-WSG particles were Fe3O4 nanoparticles regulated by the confinement effect of F127 micelles with a uniform globular morphology and size (∼9 nm), and peptide-WSG was grafted for their tumor targetability. USPIOs@F127-WSG particles presented superparamagnetic behavior with high T2 relaxivity (r2 = 278.15 mM-1 s-1) and in vitro targetability for SKOV-3 cells due to the special binding between peptide-WSG and specific receptors of SKOV-3. The test results in vivo verified the targetability of USPIOs@F127-WSG by their specific aggregation in the tumor regions, leading to the T2-weighted MRI contrast enhancement. These outstanding properties indicate that USPIOs@F127-WSG have great potential to be applied as the active tumor-targeting contrast agent for MRI.
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