title: VEGFR targeting leads to significantly enhanced tumor uptake of nanographene oxide in vivo.
abstract: Although graphene oxide (GO) has recently been considered as a highly attractive nanomaterial for future cancer imaging and therapy, it is still a major challenge to improve its in vivo tumor active targeting efficiency. Here in this full article, we demonstrated the successful and significantly enhanced in vivo tumor vasculature targeting efficacy of well-functionalized GO nanoconjugates by using vascular endothelial growth factor 121 (VEGF121) as the targeting ligand. As-developed GO nanoconjugate exhibits excellent in vivo stability, specific in vitro and in vivo vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) targeting, significantly enhanced tumor accumulation (>8 %ID/g) as well as high tumor-to-muscle contrast, showing great potential for future tumor targeted imaging and therapy.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Sixiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials Laboratory (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Hector F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Valdovinos
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Shreya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Todd E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Barnhart
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials Laboratory (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA; Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI, USA. Electronic address: wcai@uwhealth.org.
authors.forename: Weibo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004355:Drug Stability; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006108:Graphite / Q000378:metabolism*; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D058726:Nanoconjugates / Q000737:chemistry*; D010087:Oxides / Q000378:metabolism*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D058726:Nanoconjugates; D010087:Oxides; D006108:Graphite; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
keywords: Graphene oxide (GO); Positron emission tomography (PET); VEGF; Vasculature targeting