Multi-Functional Imaging Agents for Site-Specific Detection of Prostate Cancer

Quan-Yu Cai^1,2, Huifang Zhai¹, Prasanta nanda^1,2, Charles Smith^1,2, Lixin Ma^1,2

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among American men. Development of novel and non-toxic site-specific imaging agents will improve clinical outcomes in diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer patients. In this project, we aim to synthesize and characterize magnetofluorescent nanoparticals for imaging prostate cancer. [AF750-BBN(7-14)]n-SPIO nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized for its binding affinity and specificity to gastrin releasing peptide receptor using a human prostate cancer PC-3 cell line and a severely compromised immunodeficient mouse model bearing PC-3 tumors. Our results suggest that [AF750-BBN(7-14)]n-SPIO nanoparticles will be useful for site-specific detection of prostate cancer.