Active targeted dual-modal CT/MR imaging of VX2 tumors using PEGylated BaGdF5 nanoparticles conjugated with RGDElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8nj01527a

• Main Authors: Wang, Tao, Jia, Guorong, Cheng, Chao, Wang, Qiuhu, Li, Xiao, Liu, Yanyan, He, Chaofan, Chen, Luguang, Sun, Gaofeng, Zuo, Changjing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/c8nj01527a

Multimodal imaging can improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis by combining two or more imaging modalities into one system. In this study, PEGylated BaGdF 5 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by a hydrothermal method, and the formed PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs showed good X-ray attenuation properties and positive MR contrast effects in vitro . Considering that the overexpression of integrin α v β 3 in the endothelial cells of angiogenic tumor vasculature is universal, RGD peptide, which can recognize and bind integrin α v β 3 specifically, was connected to the surface of PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs. The resulting RGD-PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs had good biocompatibility and a long half-life in vivo . In VX2 tumor-bearing mice, the HU values and MR signal enhancement of tumor sites in the targeted group were both higher than that in the non-targeted group after intravenous injection of RGD-PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs or PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs, respectively. Therefore, the RGD-PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs may be used as dual-modal CT/MR contrast agents of different types of solid tumors via an active RGD-mediated vasculature targeting pathway. RGD-PEG-BaGdF 5 NPs can be used as CT/MR dual-modality contrast agents of solid tumors via the RGD-mediated tumor vasculature targeting strategy.