Integrated Molecular Imaging and Therapy for Breast Cancer

In this project, we have demonstrated multi-component molecular targeting of surface receptors IGF1R and Her2 and NIR dosing of cancer cells using SWCNT. While previous studies have shown the transport of DNA into cells using nanotubes, in this study we show multi-component molecular targeting of both IGF1R and Her2 surface markers in cancer cells using single wall carbon nanotubes. IGF1 and Her2 specific antibodies conjugated to the SWCNT were used to target their corresponding receptors in cells and internalize the SWCNT. The cells were then dosed with NIR 808 nm photons at 800 mWsq cm for 3 minutes. Cells that were treated with non-specific antibody-SWCNT hybrids survived the NIR dosing compared to the dead cells with anti-IGF1-anti-Her2-SWCNT hybrids. The amount of energy consumed for cell killing was estimated to be as small as 200 nW per cell, which is an order of magnitude smaller than competing techniques. Quantitative estimates showed that cells incubated with SWCNT-anti-Her-anti-IGF1R antibodies were completely destroyed while 80 of the non-specific-antibody-SWCNT hybrids treated cells were still alive. These results indicate that SWCNT could be used as biological transport agents and the high optical absorbance in the NIR are capable of killing cancer cells with minimum collateral damage. Further, western blots indicated the relevance of targeting IGF1R in MCF7 cancer cells and Her2 in BT474 breast cancer cells. This study is another clear example of molecular targeting and cell killing approach that can improve therapeutic efficacies. These tools can also be applied to traditional surgical oncology to improve the probability of killing cancer cells whose microscopic foci are often left behind in surgery.