Trastuzumab conjugated PEG – Fe₃O₄@Au nanoparticle as an MRI biocompatible nano-contrast agent

Abstract

A novel targeted tumor contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was synthesized based on Fe₃O₄@Au nanoparticle coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and decorated with trastuzumab (TZ). The prepared system was fully characterized, and relaxivity, cytotoxicity, colloidal stability, blood compatibility, in vitro cell targeting ability, cytotoxicity, and in vivo MR contrast enhancement were evaluated. The developed system with a size of about 30 nm exhibited excellent stability, blood compatibility, proper relaxivity, negligible in vitro cytotoxicity, and suitable in vivo negative contrast enhancement. Appropriate negative signal enhancement in MRI confirmed the efficiency of the system to be suggested as an encouraging candidate for accurate cancer diagnosis.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Contrast media
• magnetic resonance imaging
• relaxivity
• trastuzumab

Disclosure statement

None of the authors have any conflicting interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Medical Radiation Sciences Research Team, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran (Grant #66747.) under the research ethics certificate ID: IR.TBZMED.VCR.REC.1399.368.