Giuseppe Digilio1, Valeria Menchise2, Valeria Catanzaro3, Franco Fedeli3, Roberta Napolitano3, Concetta Gringeri1, Eliana Gianolio3, Silvio Aime3
1DISAV, University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, AL, Italy; 2IBB, CNR, Italy; 3Chemistry IFM, University of Torino, Italy
A new Gd(III)-based contrast agent (CA) targeting the exofacial protein thiols is presented. Uptake experiments with cultured K562 cells show that the CA is efficiently bound to surface protein thiols and at least partially internalized. The amount of uptaken Gd(III) per cell is well above the threshold for visualization by MRI.