Biomimetic Natural Killer Membrane Camouflaged Polymeric Nanoparticle for Targeted Bioimaging

In the present study, a biomimetic nanoconstruct (BNc) with a multimodal imaging system is engineered using tumor homing natural killer cell membrane (NKM), near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye, and gadolinium (Gd) conjugate-based magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent onto the surface of a polymeric nanoparticle. The engineered BNc is 110 +/- 20 nm in size and showed successful retention of NKM proteins. The magnetic properties of the BNc are found to be tunable from 2.1 +/- 0.17 to 5.3 +/- 0.5 mm(-1) s(-1) under 14.1 T, by adjusting the concentration of Gd-lipid conjugate onto the surface of the BNc. Confocal imaging and cell sorting analysis reveal a distinguishable cellular interaction of the BNc with MCF-7 cells in comparison to that of bare polymeric nanoparticles suggesting the tumor homing properties of NKM camouflage system. The in vitro cellular interaction results are further confirmed by in vivo NIR fluorescent tumor imaging and ex vivo MR imaging, respectively. Pharmacokinetics and biodistribution analysis of the BNc show longer circulation half-life (approximate to 9.5 h) and higher tumor accumulation (10% of injected dose) in MCF-7 induced tumor-bearing immunodeficient NU/NU nude mice. Owing to the proven immunosurveillance potential of NK-cell in the field of immunotherapy, the BNc engineered herein would hold promises in the design consideration of nanomedicine engineering.