J Korean Med Assoc.  2009 Feb;52(2):121-124. 10.5124/jkma.2009.52.2.121.

Cancer -Targeted MR Molecular Imaging

• Song HT
• Suh JS

• KMID: 1469546
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2009.52.2.121

Abstract

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has been widely used in the clinic because of the benefit of high spatial and temporal resolution, and the excellent anatomical tissue contrast. Cancer-targeted MR molecular imaging comprises 3 major components: a relevant molecular target which is specifically highly expressed on the membrane of the cancer cell; a target specific imaging probe which is composed of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle coreconjugated target specific ligand such as antibody, peptide, and molecules; MR imaging hardware and software which are sensitive to the imaging probe. Among the various molecular targets, HER2/neu receptor antibody, folic acid, and arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) are well known targeting ligands. The sensitivity of the cancer-targeted MR imaging is affected by the magnetic susceptibility of the T2 contrast agent, resolution of the image, targeting efficiency of the imaging probe, and image acquisition pulse sequence. Recently, successful cancer-targeted MR imaging with T1 contrast agent and cancer-specific molecular MR imaging using innate contrast of the cancer cell by chemical exchange phenomenon without using the imaging probe has been introduced. Cancer-targeted MR molecuar imaging is a robust diagnostic method to detect cancer at the cellular stage of the cancer development and it would help improve early detection rate of the cancer.

Keyword

Molecular imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Cancer targeting; Contrast agent; Superparamagnetic iron oxide

MeSH Terms

Ferric Compounds
Folic Acid
Iron
Ligands
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Magnetics
Magnets
Membranes
Molecular Imaging
Nanoparticles
Ferric Compounds
Folic Acid
Iron
Ligands

Reference

1. Weissleder R, Mahmood U. Molecular imaging. Radiology. 2001. 219:316–333.

2. Nahta R, Esteva FJ. HER-2-targeted therapy: lessons learned and future directions. Clin Cancer Res. 2003. 9:5078–5084.

3. Reddy JA, Low PS. Folate-mediated targeting of the-rapeutic and imaging agents to cancers. Crit Rev Ther Drug Carrier Syst. 1998. 15:587–627.

4. Beer AJ, Schwaiger M. Imaging of integrin alphavbeta3 expression. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2008. 27:631–644.

5. Shin J, Anisur RM, Ko MK, Im GH, Lee JH, Lee IS. Hollow manganese oxide nanoparticles as multifunctional agents for magnetic resonance imaging and drug delivery. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2009. 48:321–324.

6. Harisinghani MG, Barentsz J, Hahn PF, Deserno WM, Tabatabaei S, van de Kaa CH, de la Rosette J, Weissleder R. Noninvasive detection of clinically occult lymph-node metastases in prostate cancer. N Engl J Med. 2003. 348:2491–2499.

7. Gillies RJ. In vivo molecular imaging. J Cell Biochem Suppl. 2002. 39:231–238.

8. Zimmer C, Weissleder R, O'Connor D, LaPointe L, Brady TJ, Enochs WS. Cerebral iron oxide distribution: in vivo mapping with MR imaging. Radiology. 1995. 196:521–527.

9. Kang HW, Josephson L, Petrovsky A, Weissleder R, Bogdanov A Jr. Magnetic resonance imaging of inducible E-selectin expression in human endothelial cell culture. Bioconjug Chem. 2002. 13:122–127.

10. Lee JH, Huh YM, Jun YW, Seo JW, Jang JT, Song HT, Kim S, Cho EJ, Yoon HG, Suh JS, Cheon J. Artificially engineered magnetic nanoparticles for ultra-sensitive molecular imaging. Nat Med. 2007. 13:95–99.

11. Jun YW, Huh YM, Choi JS, Lee JH, Song HT, Kim S, Yoon S, Kim KS, Shin JS, Suh JS, Cheon J. Nanoscale size effect of magnetic nanocrystals and their utilization for cancer diagnosis via magnetic resonance imaging. J Am Chem Soc. 2005. 127:5732–5733.

12. Heyn C, Bowen CV, Rutt BK, Foster PJ. Detection threshold of single SPIO-labeled cells with FIESTA. Magn Reson Med. 2005. 53:312–320.

13. Gilad AA, McMahon MT, Walczak P, Winnard PT Jr, Raman V, van Laarhoven HW, Skoglund CM, Bulte JW, van Zijl PC. Artificial reporter gene providing MRI contrast based on proton exchange. Nat Biotechnol. 2007. 25:217–219.