Sergey Magnitsky1, Anatoliy V. Popov1, Chunsheng Li2, Jennifer Swails2, Stephen Pickup1, George Coukos2, Jerry D. Glickson1
1Radiology, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
We developed a method for synthesizing targeted nanoparticles with high longitudinal relaxivity for MRI detection of ovarian cancer. We have incorporated Gd-DTPA-DSA and scFv-fragments of tumor specific antibodies into lipid shells of 200 nm diameter perfluorocarbon nanoparticles. The particles exhibit a longitudinal relaxivity of 28.2 mmol-1sec-1 at 18C, 9.4 T per Gd and a high affinity for human ovarian cancer cells. These studies demonstrate the potential application of these contrast agents for in vivo application.