Gold-Speckled SPION@SiO2 Nanoparticles Decorated with Thiocarbohydrates for ASGPR1 Targeting: Towards HCC Dual Mode Imaging Potential Applications

Efforts are made to perform an early and accurate detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by simultaneous exploiting multiple clinically non-invasive imaging modalities. Original nanostructures derived from the combination of different inorganic domains can be used as efficient contrast agents in multimodal imaging. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and Au nanoparticles (NPs) possess well-established contrasting features in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and X-ray computed tomography (CT), respectively. HCC can be targeted by using specific carbohydrates able to recognize asialoglycoprotein receptor 1 (ASGPR1) overexpressed in hepatocytes. Here, two different thiocarbohydrate ligands were purposely designed and alternatively conjugated to the surface of Au-speckled silica-coated SPIONs NPs, to achieve two original nanostructures that could be potentially used for dual mode targeted imaging of HCC. The results indicated that the two thiocarbohydrate decorated nanostructures possess convenient plasmonic/superparamagnetic properties, well-controlled size and morphology and good selectivity for targeting ASGPR1 receptor.