Abstract
Adjuvant radiotherapy is frequently prescribed to treat cancer. To minimize radiation-related damage to healthy tissue, it requires high precision in tumor localization and radiation dose delivery. This can be achieved by MR guidance and targeted amplification of radiation dose selectively to tumors by using radiosensitizers. Here, we demonstrate prostate cancer-targeted gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for MR-guided radiotherapy to improve the targeting precision and efficacy. By conjugating Gd(III) complexes and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeting ligands to AuNP surfaces, we found enhanced uptake of AuNPs by PSMA-expressing cancer cells with excellent MR contrast and radiation therapy outcome in vitro and in vivo. The AuNPs binding affinity and r1 relaxivity were dramatically improved and the combination of Au and Gd(III)provided better tumor suppression after radiation. The precise tumor localization by MR and selective tumor targeting of the PSMA-1-targeted AuNPs could enable precise radiotherapy, reduction in irradiating dose, and minimization of healthy tissue damage.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 7159-7167 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Nano letters |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 14 2020 |
Funding
This research was supported by the National Institute of Health Grant, RO1 EB020353-03 and R01EB5866-6. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Foundation for Cancer Research. The authors also thank John Mulvihill for the help with radiation experiments.
Keywords
- MR-guided radiotherapy
- PSMA targeting
- Radiosensitizer
- nanoparticles
- prostate cancer
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- General Chemistry
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanical Engineering
