Hyaluronate-Peanut Agglutinin Conjugates for Target-Specific Bioimaging of Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is one of the most common death-related cancers in the world. For treating colon cancer, it is crucial to detect and remove malignant lesions early. Here, we developed hyaluronate (HA)-peanut agglutinin (PNA) conjugates for the bioimaging of colon cancer. The HA-PNA conjugates were successfully synthesized by the coupling reaction between aldehyde-modified HA and the N-terminal amine group of PNA. For diagnostic imaging, rhodamine B (RhoB) was chemically conjugated onto PNA in HA-PNA conjugates. After intraluminal injection of HA-PNA-RhoB conjugates into tumor-bearing mice, small-sized colon cancers could be effectively visualized by ex vivo imaging with an in vivo imaging system (IVIS) and a two-photon microscope. With these results taken together, we could confirm the feasibility of HA-PNA-RhoB conjugates as a bioimaging agent for detecting colon cancers.