Technologies

Brief Description

Lack of effective diagnosis and treatment of cancers such as colorectal, prostate, breast, lung, and liver cancer presents a great need for relevant technology. The market urgently requires early detection methods and selective tumor-targeting therapeutic agents for common cancers. Tumor-specific biomarkers and visualization/detection methods for accurate treatment of cancer are the current emphasis in cancer research. This presents an opportunity for new technology development in this area.

The invention is a molecular MR imaging probe for the targeted destruction of tumor cells. This nanoconjugate strategy uses MRI to detect and destroy tumor cells using: 1.) genetically modified ferritin and 2.) a monoclonal antibody against a tumor-specific cell surface protein Nectin-like molecule 5 (Necl-5). Ferritin regulates iron ion homeostasis, and this modified version proposed has strong MRI contrast properties. The glycoprotein Necl-5 promotes “cellular proliferation, migration and invasion of transformed cell lines,” and is up-regulated in multiple human carcinomas. The proposed monoclonal antibody greatly enhances selectivity toward such tumor cells. The genetically modified ferritin component serves as an MR contrast agent with greatly enhanced magnetic susceptibility at low concentrations as compared to conventional iron-based imaging contrast agents, while the monoclonal antibody of the nanoconjugate binds to tumor cells with high specificity. The ferritin/Necl-5 conjugate effectively uses magnetic hyperthermia to destroy labeled tumor cells.