Neuroblastoma-targeting triangular gadolinium oxide nanoplates for precise excision of cancer

Neuroblastoma accounts for 8-10% of malignancies in infants and children. It is urgent to develop an appropriate theranostic agent for effective diagnosis and therapy of neuroblastoma. Herein, we constructed RVG peptide and IRDye800-conjugated bovine serum albumin-coated triangular gadolinium oxide nanoplates (RVG&IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs) as a targeting MRI agent for the diagnosis of neuroblastoma preoperation and a fluorescence imaging agent for the guidance of the precise excision of the neuroblastoma in surgery. RVG&IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs have uniform edge length. The RVG&IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs show remarkably enhanced affinity to both mouse- and human-derived neuroblastoma cells compared with IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs (3.07-fold and 3.02-fold, respectively). Because of the increased accumulation in tumor cells, RVG&IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs exhibit signals threefold to fivefold higher than the surrounding normal tissues, which is propitious to the diagnosis of neuroblastoma preoperation and provides real-time visual guidance of the precise excision of the neuroblastoma. Most importantly, with the guidance of the fluorescence imaging agent, the survival rate increased from 0% to 80% 42 days after surgery compared with that in conventional surgery. These findings indicated that the RVG peptide combined with IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs has the potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with neuroblastoma. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, we prepared RVG peptide and IRDye800-conjugated bovine serum albumin-coated triangular gadolinium oxide nanoplates (RVG&IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs) as a targeting MRI agent for the diagnosis of neuroblastoma preoperation and a fluorescence imaging agent for the guidance of the precise excision of the neuroblastoma during surgery. Neuroblastoma was accurately located by MRI imaging, and the tumor margin could be real-time monitored through near-infrared fluorescence imaging. The RVG&IRDye800-Gd₂O₃ TNs exhibit signals threefold to fivefold higher than those in the surrounding normal tissues, which is propitious to the diagnosis of the neuroblastoma preoperation and provides real-time visual guidance of the precise excision of the neuroblastoma. With the guidance of the fluorescence imaging agent in surgery, the survival rate increased from 0% to 80% 42 days after surgery compared with that in conventional surgery.