title: Nanoparticles for multi-modality cancer diagnosis: Simple protocol for self-assembly of gold nanoclusters mediated by gadolinium ions.
abstract: It is essential to develop a simple synthetic strategy to improve the quality of multifunctional contrast agents for cancer diagnosis. Herein, we report a time-saving method for gadolinium (Gd3+) ions-mediated self-assembly of gold nanoclusters (GNCs) into monodisperse spherical nanoparticles (GNCNs) under mild conditions. The monodisperse, regular and colloidal stable GNCNs were formed via selectively inducing electrostatic interactions between negatively-charged carboxylic groups of gold nanoclusters and trivalent cations of gadolinium in aqueous solution. In this way, the Gd3+ions were chelated into GNCNs without the use of molecular gadolinium chelates. With the co-existence of GNCs and Gd3+ions, the formed GNCNs exhibit significant luminescence intensity enhancement for near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, high X-ray attenuation for computed tomography (CT) imaging and reasonable r1 relaxivity for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The excellent biocompatibility of the GNCNs was proved both in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, the GNCNs also possess unique NIRF/CT/MR imaging ability in A549 tumor-bearing mice. In a nutshell, the simple and safe GNCNs hold great potential for tumor multi-modality clinical diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China; School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenxiu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China; Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alfranca
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China; School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanlei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200072, PR China. Electronic address: cpengrr@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China. Electronic address: chunleizhang@sjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chunlei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China; Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesus Martinez
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: de la Fuente
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre for Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment Instrument, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Shanghai 200240, PR China. Electronic address: dxcui@sjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Daxiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D000072283:A549 Cells; D000818:Animals; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D017979:Gold Colloid / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007259:Infrared Rays; D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D017979:Gold Colloid; D007477:Ions; D006046:Gold; D005682:Gadolinium
keywords: Assembly; Diagnosis; Gd(3+) ions; Gold nanoclusters (GNCs); Multi-modality imaging