Ewelina Kluza1, Igor Jacobs1, Stefanie
J. Hectors1, Kevin H. Mayo2, Arjan W. Griffioen3,
Gustav J. Strijkers1, Klaas Nicolay1
1Biomedical NMR, Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven,
Netherlands; 2Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology &
Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; 3Angiogenesis
Laboratory, Department of Medical Oncology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Recently, we showed that paramagnetic liposomes, which are concurrently targeted to two cell surface markers give a strong enhancement in endothelial cell association in vitro. Here, we tested the hypothesis that dual-targeted liposomes also afford a more specific tumor endothelial association in vivo, using C57BL/6 mice bearing s.c. B16F10 tumors. Paramagnetic liposomes targeted to αvβ3-integrin and galectin-1 at the same time were compared to single-marker targeted versions. Tumor delivery was monitored with T1W-MRI and T1 mapping. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed that the dual-targeted liposomes afforded the highest targeting specificity, making this an attractive concept for improved MRI-based tumor angiogenesis imaging.