Abstract

Development of biocompatible and multifunctional nanoprobes for tumor targeting, imaging, and therapy still remains a great challenge. Herein, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized in the cavity of horse spleen apoferritin protein (HoSAF) and protein surface was labeled with 2-amino-2-deoxy-glucose (2DG) as a cell surface glucose transport protein specific targeting probe to study the feasibility of its usage as a computer tomography (CT) contrast agent with tumor targeting capability through in vitro experiments. 2DG conjugated and gold-loaded apoferritin (Au-HoSAF-2DG) nanoparticles (NPs) showed selective targeting for human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells when compared to normal breast (MCF-10A) cells. This AuNP-based imaging agent was found to be non-cytotoxic in a given concentration range with an apoptotic effect upon longer exposure times towards MCF-7 cells, while MCF-10A cells were affected less. This selective cell death would also be useful for further cancer treatments with the ability of X-ray attenuation in in vitro X-ray and computed tomography (CT) imaging.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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结合2-氨基-2-脱氧葡萄糖的金-铁铁蛋白纳米笼在乳腺癌细胞成像中的潜在应用

摘要

用于肿瘤靶向，成像和治疗的生物相容性和多功能纳米探针的开发仍然是巨大的挑战。在此，在马脾脱铁蛋白（HoSAF）的腔中合成了金纳米颗粒（AuNPs），并用2-氨基-2-脱氧葡萄糖（2DG）标记了蛋白表面作为细胞表面葡萄糖转运蛋白特异性靶向探针进行研究通过体外实验将其用作具有肿瘤靶向能力的计算机断层扫描（CT）造影剂的可行性。与正常乳腺（MCF-10A）细胞相比，结合了2DG的载金载铁铁蛋白（Au-HoSAF-2DG）纳米颗粒（NPs）对人乳腺腺癌细胞（MCF-7）细胞具有选择性靶向作用。发现这种基于AuNP的显像剂在给定的浓度范围内无细胞毒性，对MCF-7细胞的暴露时间较长时具有凋亡作用，而对MCF-10A细胞的影响则较小。这种具有选择性的细胞死亡也将有助于进一步的癌症治疗，因为它具有体外X射线和计算机断层扫描（CT）成像中X射线衰减的能力。

图形摘要