Cyclic RGD‐Coated Ultrasmall Gd₂O₃ Nanoparticles as Tumor‐Targeting Positive Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agents

Abstract

The excellent theranostic properties of gadolinium oxide (Gd 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles (GNPs) make them very useful as high-performance positive magnetic resonance imaging (T 1 MRI) contrast agents, X-ray computed tomography (CT) contrast agents, and gadolinium neutron capture therapy (GdNCT) agents in tumor targeting. Among these applications, tumortargeting T 1 MRI is investigated in this study. To this end, we employ cyclic RGDs (cRGDs; cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp peptides) as tumor-targeting ligands to coat ultrasmall GNPs (particle diameter = 1.0-2.5 nm). Five types of commercial cRGDs are used in the coating. The cRGD-coated GNPs (cRGD-GNPs) are prepared through one-pot syntheses. They exhibit longitudinal water- [a]

In vivo neutron capture therapy of cancer using ultrasmall gadolinium oxide nanoparticles with cancer-targeting ability

“…[42][43][44] Similar red-shis have previously been observed in many metal oxide nanoparticles coated with ligands containing carboxyl groups, [45][46][47][48] supporting our result. The N-H bend at 1544 cm À1 and the C-N stretch at 1390 cm À1 of the RGD 22,35 appeared in the FT-IR absorption spectrum of the RGD-PAA-UGNPs, Fig. 1 Scheme of the in vivo GdNCT experiment.…”

“…This could be achieved if Gd-chemicals could target and penetrate the cancer cells or preferably the cancer cell nuclei 15,16 under low thermal neutron beam irradiation doses. The surface-modied UGNPs with cancer-targeting ability are suitable for this purpose because they can target and penetrate the cancer cells [17][18][19][20][21][22] and can even penetrate the cancer cell nuclei due to their ultrasmall size. 19 Among two branches in the NCT, the GdNCT has several advantages over the boron NCT (BNCT).…”

Advances in Medical Imaging: Aptamer- and Peptide-Targeted MRI and CT Contrast Agents

“…These results confirmed that Gd-based nanoparticles can be used as MRI contrast agents, and their surface functionalization results in effective targeting. 16 …”

Effect of Neodymium Doping on MRI Relaxivity of Gadolinium Oxide Nanoparticles

“…Recently, gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (Gd 2 O 3 ) have been developed as a high-performance positive contrast material for MR imaging [ 9 , 10 ]. Due to the high surface-to-volume ratio of Gd 2 O 3 nanoparticles, their effect on longitudinal relaxation rate of the protons is higher than that of gadolinium chelates [ 11 ].…”