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Synthesis of Immunotargeted Magneto-plasmonic Nanoclusters
Published on: August 22, 2014
Measurement of immunotargeted plasmonic nanoparticles' cellular binding: a key factor in optimizing diagnostic
Kun Fu1, Jiantang Sun, Lissett R Bickford
1Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, MS-142, Houston, TX 77005, USA. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas, M D Anderson Cancer Center, Box 1202, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Nanotechnology
|August 6, 2011
Summary
We developed a new method using light scattering to count how many targeted nanoparticles bind to breast cancer cells. This study found that specific anti-HER2 nanoparticles bind much more effectively than general anti-IgG nanoparticles to SK-BR-3 cells.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Nanotechnology
- Optical Imaging
Background:
- Targeted nanoparticles enhance optical imaging contrast for disease detection.
- Quantifying nanoparticle binding per cell is crucial for diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy.
- Existing methods lack precise measurement of nanoparticle-cell binding concentrations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel method for quantifying immunotargeted plasmonic nanoparticle binding to cancer cells.
- To determine the number of antibody-conjugated nanoparticles that bind per SK-BR-3 breast carcinoma cell.
- To compare the binding efficiency of anti-HER2 and anti-IgG targeted nanoshells.
Main Methods:
- Utilized polarized light scattering to analyze unbound nanoparticle bioconjugates.
- Developed a 'negative' method by measuring scattering from unbound particles to avoid interaction effects.
- Employed nanoshells of two sizes and targeted them to HER2-positive SK-BR-3 cells using anti-HER2 and anti-IgG antibodies.
Main Results:
- Quantified approximately 800-1600 anti-HER2/nanoshell bioconjugates bound per SK-BR-3 cell.
- Determined significantly lower binding for anti-IgG/nanoshell bioconjugates, with nearly 100 bound per cell.
- Dark-field microscopy images corroborated the quantitative binding results.
Conclusions:
- The developed light scattering method accurately quantifies nanoparticle-cell binding.
- Specific immunotargeting with anti-HER2 antibodies results in substantially higher nanoparticle accumulation on breast cancer cells compared to non-specific targeting.
- This quantitative binding data is essential for optimizing nanoparticle-based cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

