Evaluation of 18F-labeled targeted perfluorocarbon-filled albumin microbubbles as a probe for microUS and microPET in tumor-bearing mice

  • Ultrasonics. 2013 Feb;53(2):320-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ultras.2012.06.014.
Ai-Ho Liao  1 ,  Shih-Yen Wu ,  Hsin-Ell Wang ,  Chien-Hsiu Weng ,  Ming-Fang Wu ,  Pai-Chi Li
Affiliations
  • 1. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
PMID: 22832082 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2012.06.014
Abstract

Objective: In this study, albumin-shelled, targeted MBs (tMBs) were first demonstrated with the expectation of visualization of biodistribution of albumin-shelled tMBs. The actual biodistribution of albumin-shelled tMBs is of vital importance either for molecular imaging or for drug delivery.

Motivation: Recently, albumin microbubbles (MBs) have been studied for drug and gene delivery in vitro and in vivo through cavitation. Targeted lipid-shelled MBs have been applied for ultrasound molecular imaging and conjugated with radiolabeled antibodies for whole-body biodistribution evaluations. The novelty of the work is that, in addition to the lipid tMBs, the albumin tMBs was also applied in biodistribution detection.

Methods: Multimodality albumin-shelled, (18)F-SFB-labeled VEGFR2 tMBs were synthesized, and their characteristics in mice bearing MDA-MB-231 human breast Cancer were investigated with micro-positron-emission tomography (microPET) and high-frequency ultrasound (microUS).

Results: Albumin-shelled MBs can be labeled with (18)F-SFB directly and conjugated with antibodies for dual molecular imaging. The albumin-shelled tMBs show a lifetime in 30min in the blood pool and a highly specific adherence to tumor vessels in mice bearing human breast Cancer.

Conclusions: From the evaluations of whole-body biodistribution, the potential of the dual molecular imaging probe for drug or gene delivery in animal experiments with albumin shelled MBs has been investigated.

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