Liang Gaolin group of the University of science and technology of China successfully developed a new gadolinium nanoparticles T2 NMR contrast agent

Recently, Liang Gaolin group of University of science and technology of China successfully developed a new gadolinium nanoparticle T2 NMR contrast agent Our team reported a strategy of in situ assembly of gadolinium nanoparticles in cells induced by γ - glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), and realized the transverse (T2) MRI enhancement of tumor under high-intensity magnetic field The research results were published in nano letters (DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolet.8b05154) γ - glutamyltranspeptidase is widely found in mammalian cells and bacterial membranes It is involved in the metabolism of endogenous glutathione and the balance of intracellular cysteine level, and plays an important role in maintaining the redox balance of cells In addition, GGT may promote tumor development, invasion and drug resistance by regulating redox metabolism in cells It is reported that GGT is over expressed in many malignant tumors, such as liver cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and breast cancer As an important biomarker, GGT specific detection can be used for early diagnosis of cancer Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the advantages of non-invasive, high penetration depth and excellent spatial resolution in the diagnosis of deep tumors However, the sensitivity of MRI is very low, and contrast medium is usually needed to enhance the contrast between normal tissue and pathological tissue Gadolinium contrast agent is clinically used for longitudinal (T1) MRI of soft tissue Interestingly, Liang Gaolin's research team found that gadolinium nanostructures can be used as a new type of T 2 MRI contrast agent under high magnetic field (9.4T) Therefore, our team designed a kind of gadolinium small molecule probe which can self assemble into nanoparticles in cells The small molecule probe was cut by GGT on the cell membrane in the process of entering the cell, then reduced by glutathione in the cell, and formed gadolinium nanoparticles by CBT Cys click condensation reaction The results of in vivo MRI of tumor in mice at 9.4T showed that compared with the control group, the gadolinium nanoparticles specifically induced by GGT in situ significantly enhanced the t 2-weighted MRI signal of tumor in mice This new type of T2 MR contrast agent is expected to be used in the clinical diagnosis of γ - glutamyltranspeptidase related diseases (including cancer) The first co authors of this paper are haizijuan, Ph.D student, School of chemistry and material science, University of science and technology of China (currently associate professor, Institute of material science and information technology, Anhui University) and Ni Yanhan, master student, School of chemistry and material science, University of science and technology of China The co correspondents are researcher Zhong Kai of the center for strong magnetic field science, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Liang Gaolin of the Department of chemistry, University of Science & Technology China The research of this project is supported by national key R & D plan, National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, innovation research group project and general project of NSFC.