Hyaluronan and Glucose Dual-targeting Probe: Synthesis and Application

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Molecular Imaging
• Cancer Research

Background:

• Cancer cells often overexpress specific cell surface receptors like CD44 and glucose transporters (GLUTs).
• Developing targeted probes is crucial for improving the specificity and efficacy of cancer detection and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a novel dual-targeting probe (HGR) for enhanced tumor detection.
• To investigate the impact of hyaluronan (HA) oligosaccharide structure on probe targeting efficacy.
• To assess the in vitro and in vivo performance of the HGR probe.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a dual-targeting probe (HGR) comprising hyaluronan (HA) oligosaccharide and glucose (Glc) labeled with Rhodamine B.
• In vitro evaluation of probe's cytocompatibility and targeting specificity using CD44 and GLUT1 expression levels.
• In vivo studies in murine models to assess tumor targeting efficacy and biocompatibility.

Main Results:

• The HGR probe demonstrated superior targeting ability and cytocompatibility compared to single-targeting probes in vitro.
• HGR showed a marked preference for cells with high CD44 and GLUT1 expression.
• In vivo studies confirmed significantly enhanced tumor targeting efficacy and excellent biocompatibility of the HGR probe.

Conclusions:

• The developed dual-targeting probe (HGR) effectively targets tumors by simultaneously engaging CD44 and GLUT1.
• The probe exhibits excellent biocompatibility and enhanced targeting efficacy, showing potential for clinical tumor detection applications.