Nucleic Acid-directed Self-assembly of Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticle Imaging Agents.
Gold nanoparticles have attracted much interest as a platform for development of multifunctional imaging and therapeutic agents. Multifunctionalized gold nanoparticles are generally constructed by covalent assembly of a gold core with thiolated ligands. In this study, we have assembled multifunctionalized gold nanoparticles in one step by nucleic acid hybridization of ODN (oligodeoxynucleotide)-derivatized gold nanoparticles with a library of pre-functionalized complementary PNAs (peptide nucleic acids). The PNAs were functionalized by conjugation with DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid) for chelating64Cu for PET imaging, PEG (polyethylene glycol) for conferring stealth properties, and Cy5 for fluorescent imaging. The resulting nanoparticles showed good stability bothin vitroandin vivoshowing biodistribution behavior in a mouse that would be expected for a PEGylated gold nanoparticle rather than that for the radiolabelled PNA used in its assembly.
Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States.
Ziyan
Z
Zhang
Yongjian
Y
Liu
Chad
C
Jarreau
Michael J
MJ
Welch
John-Stephen A
JS
Taylor
biodistribution; gold nanoparticles; imaging; multifunctional; nucleic acid; positron emission; self-assembling