Hyaluronic Acid-Stabilized FeO Nanoparticles for Promoting Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumors.

The use of iron oxide (FeO) nanoparticles as novel contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has attracted great interest due to their high relaxivity. However, both poor colloidal stability and lack of effective targeting ability have impeded their further expansion in the clinics. Here, we reported the creation of hyaluronic acid (HA)-stabilized FeO nanoparticles prepared by a hydrothermal co-precipitation method and followed by electrostatic adsorption of HA onto the nanoparticle surface. The water-soluble HA functions not only as a stabilizer but also as a targeting ligand with high affinity for the CD44 receptor overexpressed in many tumors. The resulting HA-stabilized FeO nanoparticles have an estimated size of sub-20 nm as observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and exhibited long-term colloidal stability in aqueous solution. We found that the nanoparticles are hemocompatible and cytocompatible under certain concentrations. As verified by quantifying the cellular uptake, the FeO@HA nanoparticles were able to target a model cell line (HeLa cells) overexpressing the CD44 receptor through an active pathway. In addition, we showed that the nanoparticles can be used as effective contrast agents for MRI both in HeLa cells and in a xenografted HeLa tumor model in rodents. We believe that our findings shed important light on the use of active targeting ligands to improve the contrast of lesion for tumor-specific MRI in the nano-based diagnosis systems.