Multimodal in vivo MRI and NIRF imaging of bladder tumor using peptide conjugated glycol chitosan nanoparticles

Exact detection and complete removal of cancer is a key point to minimize cancer recurrence. However, it is currently very difficult to detect small tumors inside human body and continuously monitor tumors using a non-invasive imaging modality. Presently, positron emission tomography (PET) can provide the most sensitive cancer images in the human body. However, PET imaging has very limited imaging time because they typically use isotopes with short halflives. PET imaging cannot also visualize anatomical information. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide highresolution images inside the body but it has a low sensitivity, so MRI contrast agents are necessary to enhance the contrast of tumor. Near infrared fluorescent (NIRF) imaging has a good sensitivity to visualize tumor using optical probes, but it has a very limited tissue penetration depth. Therefore, we developed multi-modality nanoparticles for MRI based diagnosis and NIRF imaging based surgery of cancer. We utilized glycol chitosan of 350 nm as a vehicle for MRI contrast agents and NIRF probes. The glycol chitosan nanoparticles were conjugated with NIRF dye, Cy5.5 and bladder cancer targeting peptides to increase the internalization of cancer. For MR contrast effects, iron oxide based 22 nm nanocubes were physically loaded into the glycol chitosan nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized and evaluated in bladder tumor bearing mice. Our study suggests the potential of our nanoparticles by both MRI and NIRF imaging for tumor diagnosis and real-time NIRF image-guided tumor surgery.