Patent Application: US-62727307-A

Abstract:
an aqueous soluble , lanthanide rich nanoparticle for investigative use , such as nmr , mri , ct , pet , and gdnct is provided . the nanoparticle is synthesized from a mixture comprising lanthanide ions and coated with a suitably selected organic ligand such that the resultant nanoparticle is soluble in aqueous solutions . a method of collecting nuclear magnetic resonance information on a sample or a subject is also provided .

Description:
nanoparticles : the term “ nanoparticles ” as used herein , can also refer to nanoclusters , clusters , particles , dots , quantum dots , small particles , and nanostructured materials . when the term “ nanoparticle ” is used , one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that this term encompasses all materials with small size and often associated with quantum size effects , generally the size is less than 100 nm . nanoparticles can comprise a core or a core and a shell , as in core - shell nanoparticles . lanthanides : the term “ lanthanide ” as used herein refers to ce , pr , nd , sm , eu , gd , tb , dy , ho , er , tm , yb , la , combinations thereof , compounds containing ce , pr , nd , sm , eu , gd , tb , dy , ho , er , tm , yb , la and combinations thereof , and ions of ce , pr , nd , sm , eu , gd , tb , dy , ho , er , tm , yb , la and combinations thereof . ionic states ranging from + 2 to + 4 are contemplated . surface modifications : surface modification of the ligands that are on the surface of the nanoparticles involves altering the chemical and / or biological properties of the ligands . for example , but not to be limiting , we have shown for eu 3 + , er 3 + , and nd 3 + doped nanoparticles that had h 3 n + ch 2 ch 2 opo 3 2 − as stabilizing ligands can be surface modified with , for example , activated esters , including activated esters with polyethylene glycol ( the phosphate group binds to the surface of the nanoparticles and the amino group is reacted with the activated ester ). investigative uses : ct , pet , mri and nmr and related technologies for obtaining at least one of structural , physiological , morphological and chemical information about a sample or subject and gdnct for investigative therapy of a subject . tandem imaging : x - ray imaging ( computed tomography or ct ) and pet scanning , or x - ray imaging ( computed tomography or ct ) and mri are examples of tandem imaging . tandem imaging in general is the utilization of two or more investigative imaging techniques . ligands : all ligands may have one or more functional group independently selected from the following : carboxylic acids and their esters ; organo phosphorous compounds ( phosphonic and phosphinic acids and their esters ), phosphonates , phosphine oxides ; alcohols ; thiols ; sulfoxides ; sulfones ; ketones ; aldehydes ; polymers of the above listed ligands ; and alkyl ammonium compounds ( rnh 3 + , r 1 r 2 nh 2 + , r 1 r 2 r 3 nh + , r 1 r 2 r 3 r 4 n + , with rx = alkyl or aromatic substituent ). nanoparticle : all nanoparticles may have one or more ln independently selected from the above list and comprise at least one of : lnx 3 ( x = f , cl , br , i ) ln 2 x 3 ( x = o , s , se , te ) ln 2 xxyy ( x = o , s , se , te ; y = o , s , se , te ) ln 2 x 3 ( x = co 3 , c 2 o 4 , so 4 , so 3 ) lnx ( x = po 4 , po 3 , vo 4 ) borates aluminates gallates silicates germanates niobates tantalates wolframates molybdates nitrides xo 2 ( x = ti , zr , hf , ge , sn , pb ) xo ( x = ge , sn , zn , pb , cd , hg ) x 2 o 5 ( x = v , nb , ta ) x 2 o 3 ( x = al , ga , in ) results of physical characterizations and nmr relaxation studies of solubilized nanoparticles prepared from gdf 3 or a mixture of 80 % gdf 3 and 20 % laf 3 show that high aqueous solubilities were achieved by coating the particles with ligands of either negatively charged citrate groups ( gdf 3 particles ) or positively charged ammonium groups ( 80 / 20 gdf 3 / laf 3 ). the sample with positive charges was made with the following ligand : h 2 nch 2 ch 2 opo 3 h 2 which will be at ph = 6 - 7 : + h 3 nch 2 ch 2 opo 3 2 − , so the negatively charged group coordinates to the surface and the positive charges are on the surface of the nanoparticles as a whole and thus closest to the water ( on average ). the high solubility and relaxivity , low background 1 h nmr signal , capacity to be functionalized with positive or negative surface charges , ease of removal , and ability to recover the sample from the supernatant ( vide infra ), demonstrates that the gdf 3 nanoparticles are useful as relaxation and contrast agents in nmr and mri . 1 — gdf 3 : laf 3 ( 80 / 20 ) stabilized with 2 - aminoethyl phosphate : a solution of 2 - aminoethyl phosphate ( 0 . 14 g , 1 . 02 mmol ) in 25 ml of water was neutralized with nh 4 oh ( aq ) , followed by the addition of naf ( 0 . 13 g , 3 . 00 mmol ). the solution was heated to 75 ° c . followed by the addition of la ( no 3 ) 3 . 6h 2 o ( 0 . 12 g , 0 . 27 mmol ) and gd ( no 3 ) 3 . 6h 2 o ( 0 . 48 g , 1 . 06 mmol ) in 2 ml of water . the 2 ml solution was added drop - wise and stirred at 75 ° c . for 3 - 4 hrs , yielding a clear solution . isolation of the particles was done by removing the water until the product was reduced to a paste - like consistency , which was then redissolved in 5 ml of water and precipitated with ˜ 50 ml of acetone . the particles were then isolated by centrifugation , after which the supernatant was poured off . the remaining precipitate was then triturated with acetone , separated by centrifugation , and dried under reduced pressure . 2 — gdf 3 stabilized with citric acid : a solution of citric acid ( 0 . 41 g , 2 . 13 mmol ) in 25 ml of water was neutralized with nh 4 oh ( aq followed by the addition of naf ( 0 . 13 g , 3 . 00 mmol ). the solution was heated to 75 ° c . followed by the addition of gd ( no 3 ) 3 . 6h 2 o ( 0 . 60 g , 1 . 33 mmol ) in 2 ml of water . the 2 ml solution was added drop - wise and stirred at 75 ° c . for 3 - 4 hrs , yielding a clear solution . isolation of the particles was done by removing the water until the product was reduced to a paste - like consistency . particles were then redissolved in 5 ml of water and precipitated with ˜ 100 ml of ethanol . the particles were then isolated by centrifugation , after which the supernatant was poured off . the remaining precipitate was then triturated with ethanol , separated by centrifugation , and dried under reduced pressure . the gdf 3 and gdf 3 / laf 3 nanoparticle morphologies and sizes were characterized by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy . atomic force microscopy ( afm ) was performed using a thermomicroscope explorer . samples were deposited from a water suspension on a freshly cleaved mica substrate , in which the bulk of the water was subsequently desorbed via a piece of paper towel at the corner of the mica sheet . dynamic light scattering ( dls ) experiments were carried out on a brookhaven instruments photon correlation spectrometer equipped with a bi - 200sm goniometer , a bi - 9000at digital autocorrelator , and a melles griot he — ne laser ( 632 . 8 nm ) with maximum power output of 75 mw . all water and nanoparticle solutions were filtered through 0 . 45 μm teflon syringe filters . sample vials used for measurements were rinsed 3 times with the above filtered water . final sample concentrations used were 0 . 5 mg · ml − 1 . dls experiments were measured with the viewing direction perpendicular to the incident light direction . fig1 a and 1b , obtained from atomic force microscopy , reveal broad distributions of particle sizes for nanoparticles prepared by method 1 or 2 above . in the case of the 80 / 20 ( gdf 3 : laf 3 ) positive surface charge nanoparticles , atomic force measurements reveal a roughly bimodal size distribution with particle cross sections ranging from 10 - 50 nm and 80 - 110 nm , though sizes between 30 and 60 nm are more typical . the larger particles , in this case , are not suspected to consist of agglomerated particles from the 10 - 50 nm dimensions . an analysis of dynamic light scattering measurements corroborate the size range estimated by afm and suggest an effective diameter of 51 . 5 nm in h 2 o ( average of 3 measurements ), with an rms error of 7 . 9 × 10 − 2 , with a size range matching that of the afm distribution . the afm - based size distribution of the nanoparticles made with gdf 3 , stabilized with citric acid , are shown in fig1 b . note that the size distribution suggests that particle sizes vary somewhat uniformly between 10 nm and 150 nm in diameter . an analysis of dynamic light scattering measurements gives an effective diameter of 129 . 3 nm in h 2 o ( average of 3 measurements ), with an rms error of 5 . 7 × 10 − 3 , with a size range matching that of the afm distribution . the larger particles are also expected to arise from growth formation , rather than particle agglomeration . the observation of slightly larger particle sizes with the gdf3 based nanoparticles is consistent with the observation that lanthanide solubilities typically decrease across the lanthanide series and the synthesis protocol results in slightly larger nanoparticles upon replacing la 3 + with gd 3 + . in fact , this was one of the motivating reasons for doping one of the nanoparticles ( namely , the positive surface charged species ) with la 3 + , since solubility was significantly improved . ultimately , control of size and solubility is important to targeting and retention times of nanoparticles in living systems . the size distribution profiles in fig1 allow us to estimate the average particle weights , which are 8 . 6 × 10 7 da and 1 . 4 × 10 9 da for the positively charged gdf 3 / laf 3 and negatively charged gdf 3 nanoparticles , respectively . fig2 depicts the dependence of water spin - lattice relaxation rates as a function of increasing mass concentrations of each of the nanoparticles prepared by method 1 or 2 , at 25 ° c . based on the average particle weights , we can estimate the paramagnetic relaxation rates from the slopes of the relaxation rate profiles . the so - called molar relaxivities turn out to be 2 . 0 × 10 7 hz / mmol and 8 . 8 × 10 5 hz / mmol for the gdf 3 and 80 / 20 gdf 3 / laf 3 mixture . these relaxivities compare favorably to those obtained for gd 3 + aggregates consisting of dendrimer cores , or the more recently developed zeolite shells used to sequester gd 3 + for mri studies of the stomach . it is probable that the bulk of the relaxation is coming from those gd 3 + ions located on or near the surface since it is well known that relaxation is only conferred to bulk water if water is readily exchanging from the surface . assuming typical cross sections of 129 nm and 51 . 3 nm for the two types of nanoparticles used in this study ( ie gdf 3 possessing negatively charge citrate groups and 80 / 20 gdf3 / laf3 possessing positive surface charges , respectively ) we can estimate that the mole fraction of gd ions within the radius of water from the surface (˜ 3 å ) is approximately 0 . 014 and 0 . 035 , respectively . fig3 reveals the temperature dependence of the water spin - lattice relaxation rates of both nanoparticles of method 1 or 2 at concentrations of 1 . 53 and 1 . 54 mg / ml . for purposes of assessing the potential of the nanoparticles as mri contrast agents , the relaxivities of both nanoparticles was also measured at additional available field strengths ( 200 mhz , 360 mhz , and 500 mhz ). the result , shown in fig4 , reveals that the relaxivity is not strongly dependent on field strength between 200 and 600 mhz . fig5 compares 1 h nmr spectra of unlabeled lysozyme with varying amounts of nanoparticle added . average amide spin - lattice relaxation times were observed to drop from 0 . 85 s to 0 . 25 s in the presence of only 15 nm 80 / 20 gdf 3 / laf 3 nanoparticles . this corresponds to an average paramagnetic rate of 2 . 5 hz for the amide protons of lysozyme . due to the positive net charge of the protein , the positively charged nanoparticles were chosen to minimize direct interactions between particles and the protein . a similar study was also performed with a small molecule ( caffeine ), labeled with nanoparticles , wherein the paramagnetic contribution to 1 h spin - lattice relaxation was between 3 and 5 hz at 12 nm gdf 3 nanoparticle concentrations . in mri , it is preferable to remove the nanoparticles from the sample or subject . while in living subjects it may be possible to direct the nanoparticles to the reticuloendothelial system , for subsequent excretion or removal via the bile , in other instances , the removal occurs in vivo . hence , it is of note that in all cases , we observed that the nanoparticles could easily be removed by ultracentrifugation at 90 , 000 rpm for approximately 60 minutes , whereupon a light translucent gel was observed in the bottom of the centrifuge tube . protein was simply extracted in the supernatant and subsequent nmr relaxation studies revealed that water relaxation rates returned to the relaxation rates associated with the paramagnetic - free sample . 1 — preparation of aep stabilized gdf 3 : la ( 20 %): eu ( 0 . 5 %) nanoparticles : a solution of 0 . 14 g of 2 - aminoethyl dihydrogen phosphate in 25 ml of water was neutralized with ammonium hydroxide to a slightly acidic ph value of 5 . 08 , 6 . 18 and 6 . 41 , followed by addition of 0 . 126 g ( 3 mmol ) of naf . the solution was heated to 75 ° c . followed by the drop wise addition of a solution of gd ( no 3 ) 3 , la ( no 3 ) 3 and eu ( no 3 ) 3 ( a total of 3 mmol ) in 2 ml of water . after stirring for 1 hour , particles were precipitated with ˜ 100 ml of acetone , isolated by centrifugation , washed three times with acetone , followed by centrifugation , and dried under vacuum . percentages are relative to the total amount of ln 3 + ions . 2 — preparation of citrate stabilized gdf 3 : eu ( x %, x = 5 and 10 ) nanoparticles : a solution of 1 g of citric acid in 35 ml of water was neutralized with ammonium hydroxide to a ph of 6 followed by the addition of 0 . 126 g of naf ( 3 mmol ). the solution was heated to 75 ° c . followed by the drop wise addition of a solution of gd ( no 3 ) 3 and eu ( no 3 ) 3 ( in total 1 . 33 mmol ) in 2 ml of water . after stirring for 1 hour , particles were precipitated with ˜ 50 ml of ethanol , isolated by centrifugation , washed three times with ethanol , followed by centrifugation , and dried under vacuum . percentages are relative to the total amount of ln 3 + ions . 3 — preparation of citrate stabilized gdf 3 : eu ( x %, x = 5 and 10 )- laf 3 core - shell nanoparticles : a solution of 2 g of citric acid in 35 ml of water was neutralized with ammonium hydroxide to a ph of 6 and heated to 75 ° c . followed by the drop wise addition of a solution of gd ( no 3 ) 3 and eu ( no 3 ) 3 ( a total of 1 mmol ) in 2 ml of methanol and a solution of 0 . 126 g of naf ( 3 mmol ) in 4 ml of water , while stirring . after 10 min , a solution of 0 . 576 g of la ( no 3 ) 3 ( 1 . 33 mmol ) in 2 ml of methanol and a solution of 0 . 126 g of naf ( 3 mmol ) in 4 ml of water were added drop wise . after 1 hour , the particles were precipitated with ˜ 50 ml of ethanol , isolated by centrifugation , washed three times with ethanol , followed by centrifugation and dried under vacuum . percentages are relative to the total amount of ln 3 + ions . 4 — preparation of citrate stabilized laf 3 — gd : eu ( x %, x = 5 and 10 ) core - shell nanoparticles : a solution of 2 g of citric acid in 35 ml of water was neutralized with ammonium hydroxide to a ph of 6 and heated to 75 ° c . followed by the drop wise addition of a solution of 0 . 443 g of la ( no 3 ) 3 ( 1 mmol ) in 2 ml of methanol and a solution of 0 . 126 g of naf ( 3 mmol ) in 4 ml of water while stirring . after 10 min , a solution of gd ( no 3 ) 3 and eu ( no 3 ) 3 ( a total of 1 . 33 mmol ) in 2 ml of methanol and a solution of 0 . 126 g of naf ( 3 mmol ) in 4 ml of water were added drop wise . after 1 hour , particles were precipitated with ˜ 50 ml of ethanol , isolated by centrifugation , washed three times with ethanol , followed by centrifugation and dried under vacuum . percentages are relative to the total amount of ln 3 + ions . typical particle sizes were in the range of about 10 nm ( about ph 5 . 08 ), about 15 nm ( about ph 6 . 16 ), and about 20 nm ( about ph 6 . 41 ) when 2 - aminoethyl dihydrogen phosphate was used . with citrate , particle sizes were about 5 mn for core particles and about 6 for core - shell nanoparticles . the stated doping percentages are relative to the total amount of ln 3 + in the core and are nominal . lanthanide fluoride nanoparticles in positron therapy — positron emission tomography ( pet ) is a well known technique for imaging of most tumors and relies upon the accumulation of positron emitting radionuclides such as 18 f in tumor cells . 18 f has been shown to have a radiotherapeutic effect in combating tumors . lanthanide trifluoride nanoparticles contain fluoride ions therefore they will be used to incorporate an arbitrary fraction of 18 f ( from 18 f - enriched sodium fluoride ) in the synthesis process . doping a high proportion of the nanoparticles with 18 f , will render the nanoparticles potent anticancer agents . as long as they are appropriately targeted . the main advantage of the nanoparticles is that a large concentration of positron emitters can thus be placed in the vicinity of tumors ( using simple targeting strategies ). this is otherwise extremely difficult to do using existing small molecules that incorporate one 18 f species . this method will be adapted to treat many kinds of pathogens , for example , but not limited to viruses , and bacteria . lanthanide phosphate , lanthanide fluoride , and lanthanide vanadate nanoparticles in neutron capture therapy ( nct ). nct involves the use of stable isotopes that are used to capture epithermal neutrons resulting in localized cytotoxic radiation . although traditional nct therapy involved the use of boron clusters , gadolinium has the advantage that its neutron capture cross section is 66 times that of boron . in addition , 157 gd generates gamma rays and auger electrons that are highly cytotoxic and possess stopping distances that extend beyond the dimensions of a single cell , thus avoiding the need to deposit the lanthanides inside the cell . prior studies have determined that optimal gadolinium concentrations in tumors should approach 50 - 200 μg / g 5 . the nanoparticle formulations of the present technology will allow delivery of significantly higher concentrations than those currently available . gd - nanoparticle formulation will also be employed to function as both an imaging contrast agent and a drug , once irradiated . clinicians will have the opportunity to determine maximal concentrations in target tissues before irradiating with neutrons . all types of pathogens will be treated with such an approach , using the appropriate target . lanthanide phosphate , lanthanide fluoride , and lanthanide vanadate nanoparticles in radionuclide therapy and enhancement by high z species . a wide variety of radionuclides are used in the treatment of tumors and pathogens today . many of these radionuclides emit alpha particles , auger electrons or beta particles of appropriate energies for soft tissue . in particular auger electron emitters such as in - 111 and beta emitters such as y - 90 , i - 131 , lu - 177 , and re - 188 , all have specific applications in tumor therapy . recently , it has been shown that the biological damage can be increased by as much as 300 - 400 % in the presence of high z - contrast agents . the approach involves the coadministration of a radionuclide with an agent designed to enhance the tissue damage through secondary interactions between the source radionuclide and high z species . such an approach relies on the partitioning of both components to the tumor tissue . in the case of the lanthanide phosphate , lanthanide fluoride , and lanthanide vanadate nanoparticles , the synthetic chemistry involved in sample preparation will be adapted to include a fraction of lu - 177 . moreover , isotopes of gadolinium will also be used as beta and gamma emitters . in either case , the background europium and gadolinium will function as the high z species in the nanoparticle and will serve to magnify the biological damage to the surrounding tissue . this method will be adapted to target any type of pathogenic cell . in conclusion , a paramagnetic nanoparticle additive , consisting of gdf 3 or a mixture of gdf 3 and laf 3 , has been synthesized and rendered highly water soluble through doping with la , and by the addition of either citric acid ( gdf 3 particles ) or positively charged ammonium groups ( 80 / 20 gdf 3 / laf 3 ). relaxivities are such that around 10 nm of nanoparticles , water spin - lattice relaxation times to drop to around 125 ms , making them useful for decreasing repetition times in studies of proteins with very long relaxation times . the lack of direct interaction between nanoparticle and solute and the ease with which the nanoparticles can be removed from an nmr sample through centrifugation , suggests that these nanoparticles should be useful as relaxation agents in nmr studies . thus , the nanoparticles possess high solubilities , confer high relaxation of the solvent at nanomolar concentrations , can be further modified to control solubility in specific solvents or prevent direct interactions with a given protein / macromolecule , and can be removed through ultracentrifugation , permitting the protein to be removed via the supernatant . we have demonstrated that it is possible to modify nanoparticles with negatively and positively charged ligands , in addition to biotin . the nanoparticle surfaces can be easily modified to control solubility , and also avoid or direct interactions with the solute molecules or surrounding matrix . this becomes an advantage in mri where functionalization of the particles confers retention time in a particular tissue . for example , coating the particles with polymers such as polyethylene glycol should confer lengthened retention time , while antibody coatings or small peptide coatings can be used to target specific cell receptors such as integrins . there are nearly limitless possibilities for functionalization for purposes of specific solubility , altered retention time and targeting . the sizeable relaxivities observed for the gdf 3 nanopaticles , over a broad range of temperature and field strength shows great promise for these particles as mri t 1 contrast agents and sensitivity agents . relaxivities are orders of magnitude higher than conventional agents . relaxation experiments on the supernatant after removal of the nanoparticles , revealed no residual presence of gd 3 + . furthermore , exhaustive studies , in which the nanoparticles were left in solution for periods of days , then centrifuged , found no residual gd 3 + in the supernatant , suggesting that lanthanide leaching is an extremely slow or nonexistent process , under in vitro conditions . since the bulk of mri relaxation and contrast agents are lanthanide chelates , and since lanthanide toxicities are always of concern , the lack of leaching may prove to be an equally useful attribute of this new class of relaxation agents , for mri . currently x - ray imaging ( computed tomography or ct ) makes use of iodinated compounds for scattering ( contrast ). the current scattering properties ( based on atomic number density ) of the lnf 3 nanoparticles are estimated to be twice that of the iodinated species on a mass concentration basis . since leaching is weak or nonexistent , and since the particles can be further modified , there is great promise to develop the particles as contrast agents for ct scanning in addition to mri . the foregoing is a description of an embodiment of the technology . as would be known to one skilled in the art , variations that do not alter the scope of the technolgy are contemplated . for example , any lanthanide ion is contemplated , for example , ho 3 + , dy 3 + lnpo 4 , where ln = la , gd , lu or y , lnvo 4 , oxides , lilnf 4 , and laf 3 . further , any combination of any of the lanthanide ions in any ratio is contemplated , for example , but not limited to ln 3 + , lapo 4 , lnvo 4 , ln 2 o 3 , ln 2 ( co 3 ) 3 , and ln 2 ( c 2 o 4 ) 3 . further , both core shell nanoparticles and core nanoparticles are contemplated . still further , any other ligands that bind to lanthanides are contemplated . the anion could be , for example but not limited to po 4 3 − or vo 4 3 − . further , any ligand that can render the nanoparticle soluble in an aqueous environment is also contemplated . for example , but not to be limiting , biotin is an effective ligand . other ligands contemplated include , but are not limited to ( overall ) negatively charged ligands , e . g . citrate and h 3 n + ch 2 ch 2 opo 3 2 − , positively charged ligands and neutral ligands ( the latter include a number of amino acids at physiological ph ). still further , the nanoparticles of the present technolgy would be expected to be effective x - ray contrast agents , such as in ct - scanning , based on their atomic ( scattering densities ). similarly , the nanoparticles of the present technolgy would be useful in pet techniques and gadolinium neutron capture therapy ( gdnct ), as alternative to boron neutron capture therapy . further , modification to the surface of ligands that are on the surface of the inorganic nanoparticle can be carried out to tune the biological properties . for example , but not limited to eu 3 + , er 3 + , and nd 3 + doped nanoparticles with h 3 n + ch 2 ch 2 opo 3 2 − as stabilizing ligands ( the phosphate group binds to the surface of the nanoparticles and the amino group has been reacted with activated esters , for example , but not limited to activated esters with polyethylene glycol units ). the use of nanoparticles in tandem imaging is also contemplated . for example , at present , positron emission tomography ( pet scanning ) utilizes radiolabeled metabolites to assess parameters such as blood flow , brain activity , and observing very small tumors , for example . with na 18 f , radioactive nanoparticles could readily be synthesized to permit simultaneous imaging by pet scanning . this would introduce a new functionality for pet scanning — namely the visualization of tissues ( rather than cell activity ). it is also contemplated that gdf 3 nanoparticles can be affixed to small beads and incorporated into flow - 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