In vivo magnetic resonance imaging of pancreatic tumors using iron oxide nanoworms targeted with PTR86 peptide.

To cut the high mortality rate of malignant disease such as pancreatic cancer, development of newly diagnostic probes for early stage detection of tumor lesions is required. Multimodal imaging nanoprobes allowing targeted and real time functional/anatomical imaging of tumors meet the demands. For this purpose, a MRI/optical dual-modality probe based on biodegradable magnetic iron oxide nanoworms has been developed. The cross-linked surface of nanoworms were anchored to fluorescent dyes and to FITC.PTR86; a novel synthetic peptide with high affinity towards somatostatin receptors. Combination of various in vitro techniques including Prussian blue staining, fluorescent microscopy and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) have been performed to explore the interaction of developed nanoprobe with pancreatic tumor cell lines. Together with in vivo studies in a xenograft mouse model of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma and ex vivo investigations, the results show the efficient imaging and targeting of pancreatic tumors by our newly developed nanosystem using both MRI and optical imaging modalities.