Journal
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 4, Issue 12, Pages 855-860Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2009.333
Keywords
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Funding
- National Institute of Health [R01EB000873, R01CA131164, R01 EB009230, R21EB0005123, R21CA139373]
- National Cancer Institute [CA133722]
- National Science Foundation [DBI-0852737, CMMI-0709121]
- Arkansas Biosciences Institute
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0852737] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The spread of cancer cells between organs, a process known as metastasis, is the cause of most cancer deaths(1,2). Detecting circulating tumour cells-a common marker for the development of metastasis(3,4)-is difficult because ex vivo methods are not sensitive enough owing to limited blood sample volume and in vivo diagnosis is time-consuming as large volumes of blood must be analysed(5-7). Here, we show a way to magnetically capture circulating tumour cells in the bloodstream of mice followed by rapid photoacoustic detection. Magnetic nanoparticles, which were functionalized to target a receptor commonly found in breast cancer cells, bound and captured circulating tumour cells under a magnet. To improve detection sensitivity and specificity, gold-plated carbon nanotubes conjugated with folic acid were used as a second contrast agent for photoacoustic imaging. By integrating in vivo multiplex targeting, magnetic enrichment, signal amplification and multicolour recognition, our approach allows circulating tumour cells to be concentrated from a large volume of blood in the vessels of tumour-bearing mice, and this could have potential for the early diagnosis of cancer and the prevention of metastasis in humans.
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