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The development of a highly efficient and cancer-specific magnetic nanocrystal probe system for in vivo magnetic resonance (MR) diagnosis of cancer is presented. Well-defined material properties, such as small size, improved magnetism, and also targeting moiety, are critical for the target-selective in vivo cancer detections.

A surface-modulated and highly biocompatible magnetic iron oxide nanocrystal probe that could be used for efficient intracellular labeling and their magnetic resonance imaging applications is presented. The preparation of these probes and the results from studies exploring their transport into various cell types and magnetic resonance contrast effect, cytotoxicity, and application in vivo monitoring of neural stem cell migration in rat spinal cord is described.

The unique properties of magnetic nanocrystals provide them with high potential as key probes and vectors in the next generation of biomedical applications. Although superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals have been extensively studied as excellent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probes for various cell trafficking, gene expression, and cancer diagnosis, further development of in vivo MRI applications has been very limited. Here, we describe in vivo diagnosis of cancer, utilizing a well-defined magnetic nanocrystal probe system with multiple capabilities, such as small size, strong magnetism, high biocompatibility, and the possession of active functionality for desired receptors. Our magnetic nanocrystals are conjugated to a cancer-targeting antibody, Herceptin, and subsequent utilization of these conjugates as MRI probes has been successfully demonstrated for the monitoring of in vivo selective targeting events of human cancer cells implanted in live mice. Further conjugation of these nanocrystal probes with fluorescent dye-labeled antibodies enables both in vitro and ex vivo optical detection of cancer as well as in vivo MRI, which are potentially applicable for an advanced multimodal detection system. Our study finds that high performance in vivo MR diagnosis of cancer is achievable by utilizing improved and multifunctional material properties of iron oxide nanocrystal probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses nanoscale size effect of magnetic nanocrystals and their utilization for cancer diagnosis via magnetic resonance imaging. The ability to synthetically tune the materials properties in terms of size, shape, and composition of inorganic nanocrystals makes them exhibit enhanced optical, magnetic and electronic properties when compared to their bulk counterparts. Such novel properties provide the potential for huge improvements in biomedical sciences including detection, diagnosis, and therapeutic systems. Among theses nanocrystals, superparamagnetic nanocrystals are now emerging in biomedical applications with new possibilities. In particular, magnetic nanocrystals have a capability as an excellent magnetic resonance signal enhancer that can resolve the weakness of current magnetic resonance imaging techniques.