Accurate detection and delineation boundary of renal cell carcinoma based on dual-targeted magnetic-fluorescent carbon dots

Accurate tumor localization and tumor boundary delineation are significant to improve the effectiveness of cancer therapeutics. In the present study, a fluorescence/magnetic resonance (MR) nanoprobe AS1411-CLT1-Gd-CDs with dual targeting function was developed for precise detection and delineation boundary of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The dual-targeted AS1411-CLT1-Gd-CDs nanoprobe was initially established by co-conjugating peptide CLT1 and aptamer AS1411 to magnetic-fluorescent gadolinium(III)-doped carbon dots (Gd-CDs). The proposed AS1411-CLT1-Gd-CDs with wide-range multi-color fluorescence emission could target-specific image 786-O RCC cells through three distinct fluorescence channels and achieved the quantitative determination of 786-O cells with a low detection limit of 552 cells mL−1. Besides, the dual-targeted AS1411-CLT1-Gd-CDs nanoprobe could accurately delineate tumor boundary and generate greater and prolonged plateau contrast enhancement than the non-targeted and single-targeted Gd-CDs. Furthermore, the small-sized nanoprobe could be easily excreted from the body by the renal excretory system after imaging without any obvious long-term toxicity. These studies demonstrated that the proposed dual-targeted nanoprobe appeared as a very promising fluorescence/MR imaging agent for accurate identification and localization of renal cancer tumors, which could be beneficial to the early diagnosis and treatment of RCC.