Functionalized Ultrasmall Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for T1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumor Hypoxia

Lei Yang; Mohammad Javad Afshari; Jianxian Ge; Dandan Kou; Lei Chen; Dandan Zhou; Cang Li; Shuwang Wu; Leshuai Zhang; Jianfeng Zeng; Jian Zhong; Roland H. Stauber; Mingyuan Gao

doi:10.3390/molecules27206929

Molecules (Oct 2022)

Functionalized Ultrasmall Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for T1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumor Hypoxia

Lei Yang,
Mohammad Javad Afshari,
Jianxian Ge,
Dandan Kou,
Lei Chen,
Dandan Zhou,
Cang Li,
Shuwang Wu,
Leshuai Zhang,
Jianfeng Zeng,
Jian Zhong,
Roland H. Stauber,
Mingyuan Gao

Affiliations

Lei Yang: College of Food Science & Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
Mohammad Javad Afshari: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Jianxian Ge: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Dandan Kou: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Lei Chen: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Dandan Zhou: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Cang Li: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Shuwang Wu: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Leshuai Zhang: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Jianfeng Zeng: Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiological Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Jian Zhong: College of Food Science & Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
Roland H. Stauber: Department of Nanobiomedicine, ENT, University Medical Center of Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55101 Mainz, Germany
Mingyuan Gao: College of Food Science & Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27206929
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 27, no. 20
p. 6929

Abstract

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Hypoxia is a common biological condition in many malignant solid tumors that plays an imperative role in regulating tumor growth and impacting the treatment’s therapeutic effect. Therefore, the hypoxia assessment is of great significance in predicting tumor development and evaluating its prognosis. Among the plenty of existing tumor diagnosis techniques, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers certain distinctive features, such as being free of ionizing radiation and providing images with a high spatial resolution. In this study, we develop a fluorescent traceable and hypoxia-sensitive T1-weighted MRI probe (Fe3O4-Met-Cy5.5) via conjugating notable hypoxia-sensitive metronidazole moiety and Cy5.5 dye with ultrasmall iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. The results of in vitro and in vivo experiments show that Fe3O4-Met-Cy5.5 has excellent performance in relaxivity, biocompatibility, and hypoxia specificity. More importantly, the obvious signal enhancement in hypoxic areas indicates that the probe has great feasibility for sensing tumor hypoxia via T1-weighted MRI. These promising results may unlock the potential of Fe3O4 nanoparticles as T1-weighted contrast agents for the development of clinical hypoxia probes.

Published in Molecules

ISSN: 1420-3049 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry: Organic chemistry
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules

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