Conjugation of a water-soluble gadolinium endohedral fulleride with an antibody as a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent

Bioconjug Chem. 2008 Mar;19(3):651-5. doi: 10.1021/bc7002742. Epub 2008 Feb 7.

Abstract

Water-soluble gadofullerides exhibited high efficiency as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. In this paper, we report the conjugation of the newly synthesized gadofulleride, Gd@C82O6(OH) 16(-)(NHCH2CH2COOH)8, with the antibody of green fluorescence protein (anti-GFP), as a model for "tumor targeted" imaging agents based on endohedral metallofullerenes. In this model system, the activity of the anti-GFP conjugate can be conveniently detected by green fluorescence protein (GFP), leading to in vitro experiments more direct and facile than those of tumor antibodies. Objective-type total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy revealed that each gadofulleride aggregate conjugated on average five anti-GFPs, and the activity of anti-GFPs was preserved after conjugation. In addition, the gadofulleride/antibody conjugate exhibited higher water proton relaxivity (12.0 mM (-1) s (-1)) than the parent gadofulleride aggregate (8.1 mM (-1) s (-1)) in phosphate buffered saline at 0.35 T, as also confirmed by T1-weighted images of phantoms. These observations clearly indicate that the synthesized gadofulleride/antibody conjugate not only has targeting potential, but also exhibits higher efficiency as an MRI contrast agent.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies / chemistry*
  • Biotin / chemistry
  • Chemical Phenomena
  • Chemistry, Physical
  • Contrast Media / chemical synthesis*
  • Gadolinium / chemistry*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / immunology
  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Molecular Weight
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry
  • Solubility
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Streptavidin / chemistry
  • Water

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Contrast Media
  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Water
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Biotin
  • Streptavidin
  • Gadolinium