Perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions for molecular imaging and therapy

FLUO 19

Samuel A. Wickline, wicklines@aol.com, Medicine/Cardiology, Washington University Medical School, Campus Box 8086, 660 S. Euclid Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63110
Molecular imaging and targeted therapeutics with nanoparticulates represents a new approach for early diagnosis and drug delivery to various pathologies. We have developed a liquid perfluorocarbon nanoemulsion combining flexible and multi/polyvalent targeting ligands with therapeutic agents against cancer and cardiovascular disease. Drugs such as doxorubicin, rapamycin, and fumagillan, and other agents such as siRNA and cytolytic peptides can be incorporated in a self assembling particle that is approximately 200 nm diameter and contains a perfluorocarbon (PFC) core. The unique spectral (19F) signature of the PFC core renders it especially interesting for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These targeted agents can be detected spectroscopically and imaged directly with no confounding background signal in vivo . The signal strength for useful PFC's such as perfluorooctylbromide or crown ethers render it a sensitive agent for molecular imaging of angiogenesis in cancer and atherosclerosis and for stem cell labeling and tracking in vivo.