Facile preparation of hyaluronic acid and transferrin co-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles with inherent biocompatibility for dual-targeting magnetic resonance imaging of tumors in vivo.
Clinical diagnosis of malignant tumors using nanoprobes needs severe improvements in the aspects of sensitivity and biocompatibility. Integrating a dual-targeting strategy with the selection of human-inherent elements and molecules as raw materials shows great potential in the development of a biosafe and sensitive nanoplatform. To carry out the proposed design, we constructed a biocompatible, dual-targeting MR imaging nanoprobe, based on Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) co-modified with inherently innoxious hyaluronic acid (HA) and transferrin (Tf). HA was used as both a template and a targeting molecule to form Fe3O4@HA NPs through a one-step co-precipitation method, which were then further modified with Tf to obtain the dual-targeting Fe3O4@HA@Tf NPs at room temperature. The excellent biocompatibility of the nanoprobe was demonstrated via toxicity assays in vitro and in vivo. The desirable dual-targeting ability towards tumor cells was confirmed by a cellular uptake test (Hela cells, overexpressing both CD44 and transferrin receptors), and the developed nanoprobe was successfully applied in tumor-targeted MR imaging in vivo. In summation, we developed a dual-targeting Fe3O4 nanoprobe, following a facile procedure at room temperature. The nanoprobe showed a high targeting ability towards tumor cells and excellent biocompatibility, which showed its great potential to be applied in the clinical diagnosis of tumors.
Department of Radiology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China. chunshuiyu@tijmu.edu.cn.
Jinbin
J
Pan
School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300203, China.
Shao-Kai
SK
Sun
School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300203, China.
Yaqiong
Y
Wang
School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300203, China.
Yan-Yan
YY
Fu
School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300203, China.
Xuejun
X
Zhang
Department of Medical Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics (Theranostics), College of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China.
Yi
Y
Zhang
Department of Radiology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China. chunshuiyu@tijmu.edu.cn.
Chunshui
C
Yu
D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014168:Transferrin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity
D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D014168:Transferrin; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid