Sun Lab Develops Smallest Cancer-Detecting Nanoparticles

Noninvasive detection of tumors at an early stage by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) needs highly sensitive contrast agents.  Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are known to be biocompatible and useful for contrast enhancement in MRI. However, cell uptake of the commonly used IONPs are usually nonspecific, and at the hydrodynamic size of over 50 nm, these particle have very limited stability against  the  uptake by the reticuloendothial system (RES).

Brown University chemistry Professor Shouheng Sun and a team of researchers including Professor Xiaoyuan Chen from Stamford Radiology Department created the smallest peptide-coated IONPs that have an overall diameter of ~8.4 nm and are stable in physiological conditions. They demonstrated that these small IONPs can specifically target U87MG cells, a type of brain tumor cell, by injecting the particles into mice.   This new nano-functionalization strategy can be readily extended to couple other bio-active molecules to IONPs for target-specific diagnostic and delivery applications.