Breast cancer cells imaging by targeting methionine transporters with gadolinium-based nanoprobe.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

Early cancer diagnosis using MRI imaging is of high global interest as a non-invasive and powerful modality. In this study, methionine was conjugated on gadolinium-based mesoporous silica nanospheres to evaluate intra-cellular uptake and its accumulation in human breast cancer cells.

PROCEDURES:

The contrast agent was synthesized and characterized using different techniques including N2 physisorption, thermal gravimetric analysis, dynamic light scattering, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The intra-cellular uptake of Gd(3+) was measured by ICP-AES, fluorescent microscopy, and flow cytometry. Finally, cellular and tumor MR imaging were performed to determine in vitro and in vivo relaxometry.

RESULTS:

According to the results, the contrast agents accumulated in tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. There was no significant cellular toxicity on either normal or cancer cells along with strong intense signal on T 1 compared to the unlabeled cells.

CONCLUSIONS:

The results showed that the novel contrast agent could become a useful tool in early detection of cancer.

• Authors: Bita Mehravi, Mehdi Shafiee Ardestani, Maryam Damercheli, Haleh Soltanghoraee, Negar Ghanaldarlaki, Ali M Alizadeh, Mohammad A Oghabian, Maryam Shahzad Shirazi, Shabnam Mahernia, Massoud Amanlou
• Journal: Molecular imaging and biology (Mol Imaging Biol) Vol. 16 Issue 4 Pg. 519-28 (Aug 2014) ISSN: 1860-2002 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 24500771 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Membrane Transport Proteins
• Silicon Dioxide
• Methionine
• Gadolinium

Topics

• Breast Neoplasms (diagnosis, pathology)
• Cell Survival
• Diagnostic Imaging (methods)
• Female
• Gadolinium
• HEK293 Cells
• Humans
• Intracellular Space (metabolism)
• MCF-7 Cells
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Membrane Transport Proteins (metabolism)
• Methionine (metabolism)
• Nanospheres
• Porosity
• Silicon Dioxide (chemistry)