Lectinized Liposomes for Multimodal in Vivo Molecular Imaging of the Tumor Endothelium

Arvind P. Pathak¹, Yoshinori Kato¹, Nicole Benoit¹

Here we describe the development of dual contrast lectinized liposomes that improve our ability to image the structural and functional changes in tumor blood vessels using MRI and optical imaging. Limitations of conventional contrast-enhanced in vivo MRI include low spatial resolution because of relatively short circulation half-life of such agents, and loss of contrast due to extravasation from permeable tumor vessels. We developed a blood vessel-specific nanoparticle targeted to Bandeiraea Simplicifolia lectin, a carbohydrate-binding protein that binds to α-D-galactosyl residues on endothelial cells. MRI and optical imaging demonstrate that multi-modal, targeted liposomes greatly enhance our ability to characterize tumor angiogenesis.