title: In Vivo Targeting of Metabolically Labeled Cancers with Ultra-Small Silica Nanoconjugates.
abstract: Unnatural sugar-mediated metabolic labeling of cancer cells, coupled with efficient Click chemistry, has shown great potential for in vivo imaging and cancer targeting. Thus far, chemical labeling of cancer cells has been limited to the small-sized azido groups, with the large-sized and highly hydrophobic dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) being correspondingly used as the targeting ligand. However, surface modification of nanomedicines with DBCO groups often suffers from low ligand density, difficult functionalization, and impaired physiochemical properties. Here we report the development of DBCO-bearing unnatural sugars that could directly label LS174T colon cancer cells with DBCO groups and subsequently mediate cancer-targeted delivery of azido-modified silica nanoconjugates with easy functionalization and high azido density in vitro and in vivo. This study, for the first time, demonstrates the feasibility of metabolic labeling of cancer cells with large-sized DBCO groups for subsequent, efficient targeting of azido-modified nanomedicines.
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Iwona T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Dobrucka
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Lawrence W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Dobrucki
authors.affiliation: 3. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Lichen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D034242:Cyclooctanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008819:Mice, Nude; D058726:Nanoconjugates / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D034242:Cyclooctanes; D058726:Nanoconjugates; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Click chemistry; cancer targeting; multi-modal imaging.; nanomedicine; silica nanoconjugate