Recombinant epidermal growth factor-like domain-1 from coagulation factor VII functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles for targeted glioma magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

The highly infiltrative and invasive nature of glioma cells often leads to blurred tumor margins, resulting in incomplete tumor resection and tumor recurrence. Accurate detection and precise delineation of glioma help in preoperative delineation, surgical planning and survival prediction. In this study, recombinant epidermal growth factor-like domain-1, derived from human coagulation factor VII, was conjugated to iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for targeted glioma magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The synthesized EGF1-EGFP-IONPs exhibited excellent targeting ability toward tissue factor (TF)-positive U87MG cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro, and demonstrated persistent and efficient MR contrast enhancement up to 12 h for preclinical glioma models with high targeting specificity in vivo. They hold great potential for clinical translation and developing targeted theranostics against brain glioma.

Keywords:

• epidermal growth factor-like domain-1
• tissue factor
• iron oxide nanoparticles
• MRI
• glioma

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Yu Guo for assistance with MR scanner and animal imaging. This work was supported by NSFC under grant numbers 81271626, 81571660, 81422023, and 51273165, MOST of China (2014CB744503 and 2013CB733802), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-13-0502), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (20720160065 and 20720150141) and Chongqing Science and Technology R&D Base Construction (International Cooperation) Project (cstc2014gjhz110002).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.