In vivo Preclinical Tumor-Specific Imaging of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Using Magnetic Particle Imaging for Cancer Diagnosis

Sang-Jin Park,1,* Seung Ro Han,2,3,* Yun Hee Kang,2,3,* Eun-Jin Lee,1 Eu-Gene Kim,1 Hyobong Hong,4 Jae-Chan Jeong,4 Myung-Shin Lee,2,3 Seung-Hoon Lee,2,5 Dae-Yong Song1 1Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea; 2Eulji Biomedical Science Research Institute, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea; 3Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea; 4Artifcial Intelligence Research Laboratory, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, Korea; 5Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Seung-Hoon Lee, Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea, Tel +82-42-259-1612, Fax +82-42-259-1669, Email nslsh@eulji.ac.kr Dae-Yong Song, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea, Tel +82-42-259-1622, Fax +82-42-259-1669, Email dysong@eulji.ac.krPurpose: Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging radiation-free, non-invasive three-dimensional tomographic technology that can visualize the concentrations of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). To verify the applicability of the previously proposed point-of-care testing MPI (PoCT-MPI) in medical diagnosis and therapeutics, we imaged SPIONs in animal tumor models.Methods: CT26 or MC38 mouse colon carcinoma cells (2 × 106 cells) were subcutaneously injected into the right flank of BALB/c mice. SPIONs were either injected directly into the tumor lesions in the intratumoral group or through tail veins in the intravenous group. CT26 and MC38 tumor models were examined both intratumorally and intravenously to confirm the biological availability of SPIONs using PoCT-MPI.Results: Signals were observed in the tumor lesions from day 1 to day 7. This is the first study to successfully image the pathological region and show the biodistribution of SPIONs in CT26 tumor models using the recently developed PoCT-MPI technology. Furthermore, MC38 tumor models were examined, resulting in similar images to those of the CT26 tumor model in both intratumoral and intravenous groups.Conclusion: The present study demonstrates the biological applicability of PoCT-MPI, which promises to be a powerful diagnostic and therapeutic technique in biomedical imaging.Keywords: colon cancer, syngeneic mouse tumor model, point-of-care testing MPI, diagnostics