Iron oxide nanoparticle
Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIOs) have been employed as
drug carriers and contrast agents for MRI due to their biocompatibility
and intrinsic magnetic properties. SPIOs typically consist of an iron
oxide core and a hydrophilic shell. An important obstacle that limits
the use of SPIOs is their inability to reach sufficient concentration at
the tumor site (DuliĆska-Litewka et al., 2019). Mahajan et al .
(Mahajan et al., 2016) used SPIOs coupled with siRNA to target PLK1, an
important oncogene in pancreatic cancer. SPIOs were coated with dextran
to be detectable by MRI and were further conjugated with streptavidin
(StAv-SPIONs). Later, they were also coupled by myristoylated
polyarginine peptides to enhance intracellular delivery alongside
endosomal escape and a non-immunogenic tumor-selective peptide (EPPT1)
to specifically target the tumor antigen. The results revealed that
these siPLK1-StAv-SPIOs can efficiently silence PLK1 expression and stop
tumor progression in both in vitro and in vivo models. The
delivery of siPLK1-StAv-SPIOs to the tumor site was increased, which was
qualified by MRI. siPLK1-StAv-SPIOs showed lower cell toxicity compared
with StAv-SPIOS without an active bioligand.
Magnetic nanoparticles can be used to convert nanoparticles into
theragnostic multifunctional delivery systems in order to achieve
effective real-time imaging of pancreatic cancer tissue with
high-resolution.