Ramesh, KalyanTruong, AliceWang, YuzhenRusckowski, MaryGkikas, Manos2022-11-212022-11-212022-09-01Ramesh K, Truong A, Wang Y, Rusckowski M, Gkikas M. Ligand-Specific Nano-Contrast Agents Promote Enhanced Breast Cancer CT Detection at 0.5 mg Au. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 1;23(17):9926. doi: 10.3390/ijms23179926. PMID: 36077324; PMCID: PMC9456125.1422-006710.3390/ijms2317992636077324https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/51265For many cancer types, being undetectable from early symptoms or blood tests, or often detected at late stages, medical imaging emerges as the most efficient tool for cancer screening. MRI, ultrasound, X-rays (mammography), and X-ray CT (CT) are currently used in hospitals with variable costs. Diagnostic materials that can detect breast tumors through molecular recognition and amplify the signal at the targeting site in combination with state-of-the-art CT techniques, such as dual-energy CT, could lead to a more precise detection and assist significantly in image-guided intervention. Herein, we have developed a ligand-specific X-ray contrast agent that recognizes α5β1 integrins overexpressed in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells for detection of triple (-) cancer, which proliferates very aggressively. In vitro studies show binding and internalization of our nanoprobes within those cells, towards uncoated nanoparticles (NPs) and saline. In vivo studies show high retention of ~3 nm ligand-PEG-S-AuNPs in breast tumors in mice (up to 21 days) and pronounced CT detection, with statistical significance from saline and iohexol, though only 0.5 mg of metal were utilized. In addition, accumulation of ligand-specific NPs is shown in tumors with minimal presence in other organs, relative to controls. The prolonged, low-metal, NP-enhanced spectral-CT detection of triple (-) breast cancer could lead to breakthrough advances in X-ray cancer diagnostics, nanotechnology, and medicine.enCopyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/X-ray contrast agentsbreast cancercomputed tomographydual-energy CTligand-specific probesmedical diagnosticsmolecular imagingmolecular recognitionnanotechnologyspectral CTJournal ArticleInternational journal of molecular sciences