Transferrin-targeted magnetic/fluorescence micelles as a specific bi-functional nanoprobe for imaging liver tumor

Hui Qi; Zhengzheng Li; Kai Du; Ketao Mu; Qing Zhou; Shuyan Liang; Wenzhen Zhu; Xiangliang Yang; Yanhong Zhu

doi:10.1186/1556-276X-9-595

Transferrin-targeted magnetic/fluorescence micelles as a specific bi-functional nanoprobe for imaging liver tumor

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2014 Oct 30;9(1):595. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-9-595. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Hui Qi¹, Zhengzheng Li¹, Kai Du¹, Ketao Mu², Qing Zhou¹, Shuyan Liang¹, Wenzhen Zhu², Xiangliang Yang¹, Yanhong Zhu¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
² Radiology Department, Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

In order to delineate the location of the tumor both before and during operation, we developed targeted bi-functional polymeric micelles for magnetic resonance (MR) and fluorescence imaging in liver tumors. Hydrophobic superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were loaded into the polymeric micelles through self-assembly of an amphiphilic block copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ϵ-caprolactone). After, transferrin (Tf) and near-infrared fluorescence molecule Cy5.5 were conjugated onto the surface of the polymeric micelles to obtain the nanosized probe SPIO@PEG-b-PCL-Tf/Cy5.5 (SPPTC). Imaging capabilities of this nanoprobe were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The accumulation of SPPTC in HepG2 cells increased over SPIO@PEG-b-PCL-Cy5.5 (SPPC) by confocal microscopy. The targeted nanoprobe SPPTC possessed favorable properties on the MR and fluorescence imaging both in vitro and in vivo. The MTT results showed that the nanoprobes were well tolerated. SPPTC had the potential for pre-operation evaluation and intra-operation navigation of tumors in clinic.

Keywords: Fluorescence imaging; Liver tumor; Magnetic resonance imaging; Micelle; Target.