Magnetic-EpCAM nanoprobe as a new platform for efficient targeting, isolating and imaging hepatocellular carcinoma

• Main Authors: Pilapong,C., Raiputta,C., Chaisupa,J., Sittichai,S., Thongtem,S., Thongtem,T.
• Format: Article
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2015
• Subjects: Chemistry (all); Chemical Engineering (all)
• Online Access: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84926633716&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/handle/6653943832/38140
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015. Herein, magnetic-EpCAM nanoparticle (EpCAM-MNP) was developed and exploited as nanoprobe for targeting, isolating and imaging hepatocellular carcinoma. The nanoprobe was composed of two major components including aminosilane-coated iron oxide nanoparticles and DNA-based EpCAM aptamers. Extensive studies were carried out to investigate its physico-chemical properties, magnetic relaxivity, as well as biocompatibility. The results indicated that the small size of the nanoprobe (HD < 100 nm) had high R2 relaxivity with good biocompatibility. Study on cellular accumulation and cellular uptake demonstrated high accumulation of EpCAM-MNP that was internalized via receptor-mediated endocytosis, as evidenced by TEM analysis. By using a magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) approach, the majority (∼96%) of the HepG2 cells were isolated, indicating the feasibility of our nanoprobe for isolating EpCAM-positive cells in clinical application. Because of the high intracellular accumulation and the high R2 relaxivity of EpCAM-MNP, it can be used for quantitative MRI detection of cancer cells with high sensitivity.