Aminopeptidase N (CD13) targeted MR and NIRF dual-modal imaging of ovarian tumor xenograft

作者：Meng, Ying; Zhang, Zixin; Liu, Kang; Ye, Ling; Liang, Yuting^*; Gu, Wei^*

来源：Materials Science and Engineering: C , 2018, 93: 968-974.

DOI：10.1016/j.msec.2018.09.002

• Ovarian tumor xenograft
• Aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13)
• Asparagine-glycine-arginine (NGR)
• MR imaging
• NIRF imaging

The development of tumor-specific imaging nanoprobes with the potential to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis has become an area of intense research. Aminopeptidase N (CD13) predominantly expresses on the surface of ovarian tumor cells and can be specifically recognized by Asn-Gly-Arg (NGR) peptide. The applicability of CD13 as a target for specific ovarian tumor imaging, however, remains unexploited so far. In this study, Cy5.5-labeled, NGR-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticles (Cy5.5-NGR-Fe3O4 NPs) were prepared as an ovarian tumor specific bimodal imaging nanoprobe. It is demonstrated that the conjugation of NGR targeting moiety leads to a higher cellular uptake toward ES-2 cells, the human ovarian carcinoma cells that highly express CD13. Moreover, magnetic resonance imaging of ovarian tumor xenograft reveals that the Fe3O4-Cy5.5-NGR NPs results in a significant T-2* signal reduction in the tumor. Meanwhile, near infrared fluorescence imaging indicates a higher accumulation of Fe3O4-Cy5.5-NGR NPs in the tumor xenograft. Therefore, CD13 could be applied as a novel and efficient target for constructing ovarian tumor specific nanoprobes with improved accuracy for ovarian tumor diagnosis.

• 出版日期2018-12-1
• 单位北京地坛医院; 首都医科大学