In Vivo Magnetic Resonance and Fluorescence Dual-Modality Imaging of Tumor Angiogenesis in Rats Using GEBP11 Peptide Targeted Magnetic Nanoparticles.

Angiogenesis is an essential process for tumor progression. Tumor vasculature-targeting peptides have shown great potential for use in cancer imaging and therapy. Our previous studies have shown that GEBP11, a novel vasculature-specific binding peptide that exhibits high affinity and specificity to tumor angiogenesis, is a promising candidate for the diagnosis and targeted radiotherapy of gastric cancer. In the present study, we developed a novel magnetic resonance and fluorescence (MR/Fluo) dual-modality imaging probe by covalently coupling 2,3-dimercaptosuccinnic acid-coated paramagnetic nanoparticles (DMSA-MNPs) and Cy5.5 to the GEBP11 peptide. The probe Cy5.5-GEBP11-DMSA-MNPs (CGD-MNPs), with a hydrodynamic diameter of 82.8 ± 6.5 nm, exhibited good imaging properties, high stability and little cytotoxicity. In vivo MR/Fluo imaging revealed that CGD-MNPs were successfully applied to visualize tumor angiogenesis in SGC-7901 xenograft mouse models. Prussian blue and CD31 immunohistochemical staining confirmed that CGD-MNPs co-localized with tumor blood vessels. In conclusion, CGD-MNPs are promising candidates for use as MR and fluorescence imaging probes for visualizing gastric cancer angiogenesis in vivo.