GE11 peptide modified CSO-SPION micelles for MRI diagnosis of targeted hepatic carcinoma

Abstract

This study investigated the performance of GE11 peptide-modified superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) on the surface of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosis in HCC. GE11-CSO-SPION micelles were prepared and characterized. MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) was used to analyze micellar cytotoxicity. Fluorescence analysis of cellular uptake was used to analyze the targeting of GE11 peptides to liver cancer cells. Prussian blue staining was used to observe the binding of cells and micelles, and the imaging ability was tested by MRI in vitro and in vivo. GE11-CSO-SPION micelles were spherical, with uniform size and no obvious aggregation of nanoparticles. No obvious micellar cytotoxicity was observed. Cellular uptake showed that GE11 peptide was specific to SMMC-7721 cells and HepG2 cells with high EGFR expression. Prussian blue staining showed that the uptake of SPION micelles by HepG2 cells was good. In vitro and in vivo MRI showed that GE11-CSO-SPION micelles had good imaging effects. GE11-CSO-SPION micelles can be used as an MRI contrast agent to detect HCC with high EGFR expression, providing reliable data for early diagnosis of HCC.

Keywords:

• Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles
• epidermal growth factor receptor
• hepatocellular carcinoma
• magnetic resonance imaging

Data availability statement

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82160329 No. 81860304 and No. 81560578) and Natural Science Research Foundation of Jilin Province for Sciences and Technology (No. 20200201511JC).