Anita Gianella1,2, Peter A. Jarzyna1,
Venkatesh Mani1, Sarayu Ramachandran1, Claudia Calcagno1,
Gert Storm3, David P. Cormode1, Victor L. Thijssen4,
Arjan W. Griffioen4, Zahi A. Fayad1, Willem J. M.
Mulder1
1Translational &
Molecular Imaging Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY,
United States; 2Centro Cardiologico Monzino, Milano, Italy; 3Utrecht
Institute for Pharmaceutical Science, Utrecht, Netherlands; 4Department
of Medical Oncology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
In this study we developed a new multifunctional nanoparticle platform to deliver therapeutic and diagnostic hydrophobic agents to tumors. The nanoparticles consist of 50 nm oil-in-water nanoemulsions that allow the inclusion of hydrophobic coated iron oxide nanocrystals in their core and the near infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye Cy7 coupled to lipids on the surface for multimodal imaging. The inclusion of an additional payload of a hydrophobic glucocorticoid resulted in nanoparticles that significantly inhibited tumor growth in a mouse model.