Fabrication of magnetic nanochains linked with CTX and curcumin for dual modal imaging detection and limitation of early tumour

Objective Five-year survival rate at early lung tumour was about 70%; however, its early diagnosis rate was still at a low level, so the enhancement of diagnosis level for early lung tumour is the key factor to increase the survival rate. Diagnosis and therapy of early lung tumour are still challenged. Methods The magnetic nanochains (NCs) with biocompatibility and transverse relaxivity (r(2) = 231 Fe mmol l(-1) s(-1)) were fabricated through a co-precipitation method in the assistance of dextran, and then, linked with chlorotoxin (CTX) and curcumin (Cur) via the PEGylation and carbodiimide technique (named as CTX-NCs-Cur). Results The results of cell test indicated that CTX-conjugated NCs could obviously target non-small-cell lung cancer cells and limit their growth. The in vivo results of magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence imaging indicated that the CTX-NCs-Cur significantly targeted the tumour site and enhanced images contrast of the small-size tumour. Moreover, the results of everyday tail-vein injection confirmed that CTX-NCs-Cur could significantly limit the growth of early tumour, due to blocking Cl ion channels from CTX-NCs-Cur-MMP-2 composite and intracellular ROS increase from Cur treatment. Conclusions We provided a mechanism about the effect of CTX-NCs-Cur on the targeting and limiting early tumour, and these results indicated the application foreground of CTX-NCs-Cur in tumour diagnosis and therapy.