通过靶向生物合成气穴超声分子成像评估上皮间质转化对肿瘤转移潜能的影响。
Ultrasound Molecular Imaging of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition for Evaluating Tumor Metastatic Potential via Targeted Biosynthetic Gas Vesicles.
机构信息
Center for Cell and Gene Circuit Design, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
Shenzhen College of Advanced Technology, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China.
出版信息
Small. 2023 May;19(21):e2207940. doi: 10.1002/smll.202207940. Epub 2023 Mar 3.
Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of tumor cells is recognized as the main driver to promote metastasis. Extensive researches suggest that gradually decreased E-cadherin (E-cad) and increased N-cadherin (N-cad) exist in the tumor cells during the EMT process. However, there still lacks suitable imaging methods to monitor the status of EMT for evaluating tumor metastatic potentials. Herein, the E-cad-targeted and N-cad-targeted gas vesicles (GVs) are developed as the acoustic probes to monitor the EMT status in tumor. The resulting probes have ≈200 nm particle size and good tumor cell targeting performance. Upon systemic administration, E-cad-GVs and N-cad-GVs can traverse through blood vessels and bind to the tumor cells, producing strong contrast imaging signals in comparison with the nontargeted GVs. The contrast imaging signals correlate well with the expression levels of E-cad and N-cad and tumor metastatic ability. This study provides a new strategy to noninvasively monitor the EMT status and help to evaluate tumor metastatic potential in vivo.
肿瘤细胞的上皮间质转化(EMT)被认为是促进转移的主要驱动力。大量研究表明,在 EMT 过程中,肿瘤细胞中逐渐减少的 E-钙黏蛋白(E-cad)和增加的 N-钙黏蛋白(N-cad)存在。然而,仍然缺乏合适的成像方法来监测 EMT 状态,以评估肿瘤的转移潜能。在此,开发了靶向 E-cad 和 N-cad 的气穴(GVs)作为声探针来监测肿瘤中的 EMT 状态。所得探针的粒径约为 200nm,具有良好的肿瘤细胞靶向性能。全身给药后,E-cad-GVs 和 N-cad-GVs 可以穿过血管并与肿瘤细胞结合,产生比非靶向 GVs 更强的对比成像信号。对比成像信号与 E-cad 和 N-cad 的表达水平以及肿瘤转移能力密切相关。本研究为非侵入性监测 EMT 状态并有助于评估体内肿瘤转移潜能提供了一种新策略。