Multifunctional Transferrin Encapsulated GdF₃ Nanoparticles for Sentinel Lymph Node and Tumor Imaging

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Imaging
• Radiochemistry

Background:

• Multimodal imaging agents are crucial for accurate disease diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
• Existing agents often lack specificity or comprehensive imaging capabilities.
• Transferrin receptor overexpression in tumors presents a target for specific imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel multimodal imaging nanoparticles (NPs) for enhanced preclinical imaging.
• To integrate multiple imaging modalities (T2MRI, CT, PET, NIR) into a single NP platform.
• To evaluate the efficacy of these NPs for sentinel lymph node (SLN) and tumor imaging in vivo.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of transferrin-encapsulated GdF3 nanoparticles (GdF3@Tf NPs) via biomineralization.
• Conjugation of radionuclide 64Cu and fluorescent dye Cy7 to create 64Cu-GdF3@Tf-Cy7 NPs.
• In vivo application of the developed NPs in small animal models for multimodal imaging.

Main Results:

• GdF3@Tf NPs demonstrated significant T2MRI and CT enhancement.
• The integrated 64Cu-GdF3@Tf-Cy7 NPs exhibited PET and NIR imaging capabilities.
• In vivo studies showed precise SLN identification and specific imaging of transferrin receptor-overexpressed colorectal tumors.
• The developed NPs outperformed previous multimodal imaging agents in specificity and imaging range.

Conclusions:

• 64Cu-GdF3@Tf-Cy7 NPs are effective multimodal imaging agents.
• These NPs show significant potential for preclinical imaging of SLNs and tumors.
• The developed nanoparticles offer a promising platform for advanced diagnostic imaging.