Development of fluorescence/MR dual-modal manganese-nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets as an efficient contrast agent for targeted ovarian carcinoma imaging

Abstract Background Development of sensitive and specific imaging approaches for the detection of ovarian cancer holds great promise for improving the therapeutic efficacy and the lifespan of the patients. Results In this study, manganese-nitrogen doped carbon nanosheets (Mn-N-CNSs) coupled with Anti-HE4 monoclonal antibody (Mn-N-CNSs@Anti-HE4) were synthesized for the specific and targeted fluorescence/MR dual-modal imaging of ovarian carcinoma. The prepared Mn-N-CNSs revealed excellent aqueous dispersity, good colloidal stability, great optical properties and high longtudinal relaxivity rate (r 1 = 10.30 mM −1 s −1 ). Encouraged by the tunable photoluminiscence of the nanoprobe and Anti-HE4 targeting ligand, the ovarian carcinoma cells were specifically labeled by the Mn-N-CNSs@Anti-HE4 nanoprobe with multi-color fluorescences. Benefiting from the high r 1 relaxivity, the nanoprobe exhibited targeted and enhanced MR contrast effect in the ovarian carcinoma cells and tumor bearing mice model. Besides, the high biocompatibility and easy excretion from the body of the nanoprobe were further confirmed in vivo. Conclusion The prepared Mn-N-CNSs@Anti-HE4 with excellent biocompatibility, high-performance and superior tumor-targeting ability provides a novel fluorescence/MR dual-modal nanoprobe for specific labeling and detection of ovarian carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.