title: PET and NIR optical imaging using self-illuminating (64)Cu-doped chelator-free gold nanoclusters.
abstract: Self-illuminating fluorescence imaging without autofluorescence background interference has recently aroused more research interests in molecular imaging. Currently, only a few self-illuminating probes were developed, based mainly on toxic quantum dots such as CdSe, CdTe. Herein, we report a novel design of nontoxic self-illuminating gold nanocluster ((64)Cu-doped AuNCs) for dual-modality positron emission tomography (PET) and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging based on Cerenkov resonance energy transfer (CRET). PET radionuclide (64)Cu was introduced by a chelator-free doping method, which played dual roles as the energy donor and the PET imaging source. Meanwhile, AuNCs acted as the energy acceptor for NIR fluorescence imaging. (64)Cu-doped AuNCs exhibited efficient CRET-NIR and PET imaging both in vitro and in vivo. In a U87MG glioblastoma xenograft model, (64)Cu-doped AuNCs showed high tumor uptake (14.9 %ID/g at 18 h) and produced satisfactory tumor self-illuminating NIR images in the absence of external excitation. This self-illuminating nanocluster with non-toxicity and good biocompatibility can be employed as a novel imaging contrast agent for biomedical applications, especially for molecular imaging.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology & Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China; Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Orit Jacobson
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Xuefeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Xuyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Molly Gu
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Yuxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA; Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology & Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China. Electronic address: kaicwu@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kaichun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: shawn.chen@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D007554:Isotopes; D051379:Mice; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007554:Isotopes; D006046:Gold; D003300:Copper
keywords: (64)Cu doping; Cerenkov effect; Gold nanocluster; Optical imaging; Positron emission tomography