The preliminary study of immune superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for the detection of lung cancer in magnetic resonance imaging

To improve the sensitive and specific detection of metastasis of lung cancer, this study fabricated immune superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) used in magnetic resonance (MR) immumoimaging. These SPIONs were coated with oleic acid and carboxymethyl dextran, and then conjugated to mouse anti-CD44v6 monoclonal antibody. The physicochemical properties of magnetic nanoparticles without monoclonal antibody were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The sizes of the nanoparticles were determined by dynamic light scattering measurements (DLS) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Coated nanoparticles could well disperse in water with low dosage of CMD as the Fe/CMD ratio is 1/1 and 2/1 (w/w). Importantly, these SPIONs have relatively high saturation magnetization, as measured by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). They could efficiently become the transversal relaxation times (T2) contrast agent to improve detection limit through measured in vitro magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and actively target human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cells in vitro cell culture. Thus, these immune SPIONs are potentially useful for lung tumor-targeting diagnosis.