Graphene-FeCo Nanocrystals for Highly Sensitive MRI, Cancer Imaging and Therapy

描述（由申请人提供）：磁共振成像（MRI）是医学中用于了解、治疗和预防疾病的最广泛使用的成像工具之一。MRI的局限性包括低灵敏度和低分辨率。基于Gd和氧化铁纳米颗粒的现有造影剂的灵敏度仍然不足。需要创新来开发新的、有效的造影剂，以提高MRI在医学研究和临床中的灵敏度和能力。 结晶铁钴（FeCo）合金在所有材料中表现出最高的饱和磁化强度，但由于各种材料的限制，迄今为止尚未用于生物和医学应用。这项应用将开发由单层碳石墨烯封装的FeCo纳米晶体，使其成为一种新的、先进的MRI材料。单壳石墨烯涂层保护FeCo核免于降解并赋予高生物相容性。高磁性FeCo核提供了比常规MRI试剂更优越的上级磁相对比。 总的来说，该申请旨在将石墨烯-FeCo纳米晶体完全开发成具有前所未有的灵敏度、长血液循环和特异性靶向能力的新型MRI造影剂。将开发具有低至~25 μ m的高空间分辨率的MRI，并将其与石墨烯-FeCo造影剂相结合。靶特异性、长循环和高灵敏度的纳米晶体与高分辨率MRI结合，然后将用于通过药物递送和通过MRI监测石墨烯热疗来对动物中的肿瘤、血管生成和癌症治疗进行成像。 该应用的创新包括具有先进性能的生物相容性材料的新纳米技术方法和用于密集和分支聚乙二醇化和长循环的新石墨烯功能化方法。石墨烯壳的大表面积将被利用来装载大量的癌症药物和靶向配体，用于递送到由MRI监测的肿瘤靶点。石墨烯壳还将用于将近红外光转换为热能，用于肿瘤的热疗。高分辨率MRI在高灵敏度、长循环造影剂的增强下，将极大地提高MRI对肿瘤血管生成的研究能力，从而了解肿瘤的进展、转移和治疗反应。 因此，该项目将开发一种新的造影剂，可以提高MRI在所有医学领域的能力。它还将被应用于癌症研究，以收集肿瘤结构和血管生成，并开发新的癌症治疗方法。 公共卫生相关性该项目将应用纳米技术原理开发一种新型磁性纳米晶体，用于癌症成像的高分辨率MRI和MRI监测抗癌药物向肿瘤的输送。这些技术进步将为医生提供对癌症的更深入了解和更强大的治疗工具。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the most widely used imaging tools in medicine for understanding, treating and preventing diseases. The limitations of MRI include low sensitivity and resolution. The sensitivity of existing contrast agents based on Gd and iron oxide nanoparticles remains insufficient. Innovations are needed to develop new, potent contrast agents to enhance the sensitivity and thus capability of MRI in medical research and clinic. Crystalline iron-cobalt (FeCo) alloy exhibits the highest saturation magnetization among all materials, but has not been used for biological and medical applications thus far due to various materials limitations. This application will develop FeCo nanocrystals encapsulated by a single- layer of carbon grapheme into a new, advanced material for MRI. The single-shell grapheme coating protects the FeCo core from degradation and imparts high biocompatibility. The highly magnetic FeCo core affords superior magnetic relativities to conventional agents for MRI. Overall, this application aims to fully develop grapheme-FeCo nanocrystals into a new MRI contrast agent with unprecedented sensitivity, long blood circulation and specific targeting ability. MRI with high spatial resolution down to ~25<m will be developed and combined with the grapheme-FeCo contrast material. The target specific, long circulating and highly sensitive nanocrystals combined with high resolution MRI will then by used for imaging of tumor, angiogenesis and cancer therapy in animals by drug delivery and grapheme hyperthermia monitoring by MRI. Innovations of the application include new nanotechnology approach to biocompatible materials with advanced properties and new grapheme functionalization methods for dense and branched PEGylation and long circulation. The large surface areas of grapheme shells will be exploited to load great numbers of cancer drugs and targeting ligands for delivery to tumor targets monitored by MRI. The grapheme shell will also be used convert near infrared light into thermal energy for hyperthermic treatment of tumors. High resolution MRI enhanced by highly sensitive and long circulating contrast agent will greatly improves the ability of MRI of cancer angiogenesis for understanding cancer progression, metastasis and response to treatment. Thus, this project will develop a new contrast agent that can improve the capabilities of MRI in all areas of medicine. It will also be applied to cancer research to glean tumor structures and angiogenesis, and to develop new cancer therapy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE This project will apply the principles of nanotechnology to develop a new type of magnetic nanocrystals for both high resolution MRI for cancer imaging and MRI monitored delivery of anti- cancer drugs to tumors. These technological advances will provide doctors with both a greater understanding of cancer and more powerful tools for its treatment.