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Molecular imaging of tumor angiogenesis using RGD-labeled iron oxide nanoparticles

  • Article
  • Oncology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Integrin is often significantly upregulated in activated endothelial cells during tumor angiogenesis. The arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide sequence is a specific recognition motif to αvβ3 integrin. In this study, a RGD labeled, Poly lactic acid (PLA) coated ultrasmall paramagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) (referred to as RGD-PLA-USPIO) were developed and the ability to detect tumor angiogenesis was investigated in vitro and in vivo. Increased uptake of RGD-PLA-USPIO by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was detected by Prussian blue stain and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). Pronounced signal decrease in T2*-weighted magnetic resonance image (MRI) and heterogeneous arrangement of neovasculature of tumor tissue were clearly identified in Vx-2 tumor model. The MR signal of contralateral muscle only could be seen a slight background change after either RGD-PLA-USPIO or PLA-USPIO injection. These studies demonstrate the efficiency of RGD-PLA-USPIO to visualize αvβ3 integrin in activated tumor endothelial cells and its potential for detecting and monitoring tumor vasculature change after therapy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310009, China

    XinYing Wu & MinMing Zhang

  2. Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310006, China

    JingFeng Zhang & BingYing Lin

Authors
  1. XinYing Wu
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  2. JingFeng Zhang
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  4. MinMing Zhang
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Correspondence to MinMing Zhang.

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Wu, X., Zhang, J., Lin, B. et al. Molecular imaging of tumor angiogenesis using RGD-labeled iron oxide nanoparticles. Chin. Sci. Bull. 55, 2662–2670 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-010-4004-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-010-4004-8

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