Kannie WY Chan1, 2, Tao Yu3, Guanshu Liu1, 4, Ming Yang5, Assaf A Gilad1, 2, Jeff WM Bulte1, 2, Peter CM van Zijl1, 4, Justin Hanes3, 5, Michael T McMahon1, 4
1Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Cellular Imaging Section and Vascular Biology Program, Institute for Cell Engineering, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3Center for Nanomedicine, The Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 4F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute; 5Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
Nanoparticle-based local drug treatment has potential for chemotherapy for cervical tumors, but there is a need for real time in vivo imaging of the particle delivery to monitor therapeutic efficacy. We are interested in using Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST), a molecular MRI contrast mechanism, to monitor the vaginal delivery of drug-loaded nanoparticles to treat local cervical tumors by co-encapsulating CEST contrast agents and drugs within liposomes. The goal is to image the distribution of these particles and to indirectly assess the retention of drugs over the course of treatment.