Peptide-Labeled Near-Infrared Quantum Dots for Imaging Tumor Vasculature in Living Subjects

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 6; no. 4; pp. 669 - 676
• Main Authors: Cai, Weibo, Shin, Dong-Woon, Chen, Kai, Gheysens, Olivier, Cao, Qizhen, Wang, Shan X, Gambhir, Sanjiv S, Chen, Xiaoyuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.04.2006
• Subjects: Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Coated Materials, Biocompatible - analysis; Coated Materials, Biocompatible - chemical synthesis; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Glioblastoma - blood supply; Glioblastoma - metabolism; Glioblastoma - pathology; Humans; Materials science; Mice; Mice, Nude; Microscopy, Fluorescence - methods; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Neovascularization, Pathologic - metabolism; Neovascularization, Pathologic - pathology; Oligopeptides - chemistry; Oligopeptides - pharmacokinetics; Other topics in nanoscale materials and structures; Particle Size; Physics; Quantum Dots; Spectrophotometry, Infrared - methods; Whole Body Imaging - methods; Near infrared radiation; Peptides; Quantum dots; Nanostructured materials
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl052405t

We report the in vivo targeting and imaging of tumor vasculature using arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide-labeled quantum dots (QDs). Athymic nude mice bearing subcutaneous U87MG human glioblastoma tumors were administered QD705-RGD intravenously. The tumor fluorescence intensity reached maximum at 6 h postinjection with good contrast. The results reported here open up new perspectives for integrin-targeted near-infrared optical imaging and may aid in cancer detection and management including imaging-guided surgery.