FMN-coated fluorescent iron oxide nanoparticles for RCP-mediated targeting and labeling of metabolically active cancer and endothelial cells.

Riboflavin is an essential vitamin for cellular metabolism and is highly upregulated in metabolically active cells. Consequently, targeting the riboflavin carrier protein (RCP) may be a promising strategy for labeling cancer and activated endothelial cells. Therefore, Ultrasmall SuperParamagnetic Iron Oxide nanoparticles (USPIO) were adsorptively coated with the endogenous RCP ligand flavin mononucleotide (FMN), which renders them target-specific and fluorescent.

Application of molecular ultrasound for imaging integrin expression.

Stabilized microbubbles with a size between 1-5 µm are used as ultrasound contrast agents in the clinical routine. They have shown convincing results for the vascular characterization of tissues as well as in echocardiography. Due to their size, microbubbles strictly remain intravascular where they can be detected with high sensitivity and specificity.

Comparison of conventional time-intensity curves vs. maximum intensity over time for post-processing of dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Our aim was to prospectively compare two post-processing techniques for dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound and to evaluate their impact for monitoring antiangiogenic therapy. Thus, mice with epidermoid carcinoma xenografts were examined during administration of polybutylcyanoacrylate-microbubbles using a small animal ultrasound system (40 MHz). Cine loops were acquired and analyzed using time-intensity (TI) and maximum intensity over time (MIOT) curves.