Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2021 Jun;16(6):717-724. doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-00869-5. Epub 2021 Mar 29.
Molecular imaging is a crucial technique in clinical diagnostics but it relies on radioactive tracers or strong magnetic fields that are unsuitable for many patients, particularly infants and pregnant women. Ultra-high-frequency radio-frequency acoustic (UHF-RF-acoustic) imaging using non-ionizing RF pulses allows deep-tissue imaging with sub-millimetre spatial resolution. However, lack of biocompatible and targetable contrast agents has prevented the successful in vivo application of UHF-RF-acoustic imaging. Here we report our development of targetable nanodroplets for UHF-RF-acoustic molecular imaging of cancers. We synthesize all-liquid nanodroplets containing hypertonic saline that are stable for at least 2 weeks and can produce high-intensity UHF-RF-acoustic signals. Compared with concentration-matched iron oxide nanoparticles, our nanodroplets produce at least 1,600 times higher UHF-RF-acoustic signals at the same imaging depth. We demonstrate in vivo imaging using the targeted nanodroplets in a prostate cancer xenograft mouse model expressing gastrin release protein receptor (GRPR), and show that targeting specificity is increased by more than 2-fold compared with untargeted nanodroplets or prostate cancer cells not expressing this receptor.
分子成像是临床诊断中的一项关键技术,但它依赖于放射性示踪剂或强磁场,这些对许多患者,特别是婴儿和孕妇来说并不适用。使用非电离射频脉冲的超高频射频声(UHF-RF-acoustic)成像是一种能够实现亚毫米级空间分辨率的深层组织成像技术。然而,缺乏生物相容性和靶向性的对比剂,使得 UHF-RF-acoustic 声成像的体内应用无法成功。在这里,我们报告了用于癌症的 UHF-RF-acoustic 分子成像的靶向纳米液滴的开发。我们合成了含有高渗盐水的全液态纳米液滴,其稳定性至少为 2 周,并且能够产生高强度的 UHF-RF-acoustic 信号。与浓度匹配的氧化铁纳米颗粒相比,我们的纳米液滴在相同的成像深度下产生的 UHF-RF-acoustic 信号至少高出 1600 倍。我们在表达胃泌素释放蛋白受体(GRPR)的前列腺癌异种移植小鼠模型中使用靶向纳米液滴进行了体内成像,并表明与非靶向纳米液滴或不表达该受体的前列腺癌细胞相比,靶向特异性提高了两倍以上。
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