title: Theranostic CuS Nanoparticles Targeting Folate Receptors for PET Image-Guided Photothermal Therapy.
abstract: Copper sulfide nanoparticles (CuS NPs) have been reported as a single-compartment theranostic nanosystem to visualize and treat tumors simultaneously. However, few studies have investigated thein vivotumor-targeted delivery of this class of nanoparticles. In this study, we introduced a tumor-specific targeting ligand, folic acid (FA), onto the surface of CuS NPs as a model system to demonstrate the feasibility of actively targeted CuS NPs for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and PET image-guided photothermal therapy (PTT). A one-pot synthetic method was used for introducing FA to CuS NPs to yield FA-CuS NPs. Biodistribution studies in mice bearing folate receptor-expressing KB tumor showed significantly higher tumor uptake of FA-CuS NPs than non-targeted polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated PEG-CuS NPs after intravenous injection. Moreover, tumor uptake of FA-CuS NPs could be effectively blocked by free FA. Biodistribution and clearance of64Cu-labeled FA-CuS NPs (FA-[64Cu]CuS NPs) could be readily visualized by microPET (μPET), which confirmed a significantly higher level of tumor uptake of FA-[64Cu]CuS NPs than non-targeted PEG-[64Cu]CuS NPs. μPET image-guided PTT with FA-CuS NPs mediated substantially greater tumor damage compared with PTT mediated by PEG-CuS NPs. Thus, FA-CuS NPs is a promising candidate for PTT of folate receptor-positive tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77054, United State; The Second Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77054, United State; Department of Nuclear Medicine, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200127, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shaoli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77054, United State.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: The Second Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77054, United State.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: CuS nanoparticles; PET/CT imaging; folate targeting; photothermal therapy; theranostic