Functional single-walled carbon nanotubes based on an integrinαvβ3 monoclonal antibody for highly efficient cancer cell targeting

Abstract

The application of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in the field of biomedicine is becomingan entirely new and exciting topic. In this study, a novel functional SWNT based on an integrinαvβ3 monoclonal antibody was developed and was used for cancer cell targeting in vitro. SWNTswere first modified by phospholipid-bearing polyethylene glycol (PL–PEG). The PL–PEGfunctionalized SWNTs were then conjugated with protein A. A SWNT–integrinαvβ3 monoclonal antibody system (SWNT–PEG–mAb) was thus constructedby conjugating protein A with the fluorescein labeled integrinαvβ3 monoclonal antibody. In vitro study revealed that SWNT–PEG–mAb presented a high targeting efficiency onintegrin αvβ3-positive U87MG cells with low cellular toxicity, while for integrinαvβ3-negative MCF-7 cells, the system had a low targeting efficiency, indicating that thehigh targeting to U87MG cells was due to the specific integrin targeting of themonoclonal antibody. In conclusion, SWNT–PEG–mAb developed in this research isa potential candidate for cancer imaging and drug delivery in cancer targetingtherapy.