Methylmethacrylate-based polymeric nanoparticles as platform for multimodal imaging

Cancer therapy using nanomaterials has progressed significantly over the years. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or combination of these is used to deal with the serious threats of malignancy. However, surgical resection is the most effective therapy since it reduces the probability of tumor recurrence. While some tumors can be resected easily, others may be in hard-to-reach locations. Radioguided surgery (RGS) is a technique that may enable the surgeon to evaluate in real time the completeness of the tumor lesion resection [1]. With high development in nanoscience, nanostructured polymers have attracted high interest especially in cancer diagnosis and therapy due to their unique properties, such as porous structure, and high surface than their bulk counterparts [2,3]. This work concerns the preparation and characterization of methylmethacrylate-based copolymeric nanoparticles via surfactant-free emulsion polymerization using radical initiator at 80°C. Acrylic acid and N,N-dimethylacrylamide were used as comonomer to obtain P(MMA-co-AA) and P(MMA-co-DMAA) polymeric NPs. The effects of monomers ratio and initiator were studied to optimize average particle hydrodynamic diameter and polydispersity index of the final particles. Then, the obtained polymeric nanoparticles were loaded with 89Y, as a model of β- radioisotope 90Y, by addition of an aqueous solution of YCl3. NPs as imaging probe were obtained by physical encapsulation of xanthene dye fluorescein isothiocyanate isomer I (FITC) into the inner core of the copolymeric NPs. The obtained NPs were used for in vitro biocompatibility evaluation in human glioblastoma cell line. The copolymers were characterized by FTIR, and the composition was determined by 1H-NMR and XPS spectroscopies. The morphology and particle size distribution were determined through dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electron microscopies (SEM/TEM). As a proof of concept, bright fluorescence of FITC encapsulated NPs was studied via fluorescence microscopy. [1] F. Collamati, D. Maccora, S. Alfieri, V. Bocci, A. Cartoni, A. Collarino, M. De Simoni, M. Fischetti, I. Fratoddi, A. Giordano, C. Mancini-Terracciano, R. Mirabelli, S. Morganti, G. Quero, D. Rotili, T. Scotognella, E. Solfaroli Camillocci, G. Traini, I. Venditti, R. Faccini, Sci. Rep. 2020, 10, 4015. [2] I. Venditti, A. Cartoni, L. Fontana, G. Testa, F.A. Scaramuzzo, R. Faccini, C. Mancini-Terracciano, E. Solfaroli Camillocci, S. Morganti, A. Giordano, T. Scotognella, D. Rotili, V. Dini, F. Marini, I. Fratoddi, Colloids Surf. A 2017, 532, 125-131. [3] P. Guang-Yu, J. Hao-Ran, Z. Ya-Xuan, S. Wei, C. Xiao-Tong, W. Fu-Gen, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2018, 1, 2885-2897.