Dr. Gregory Lanza
Targeted Perfluorocarbon Nanoparticles for Diagnosis and Therapy

Washington University, St. Louis, MO

The field of nanomedicine is quickly evolving in response to achievements in genomics, proteomics, molecular biology, bioengineering, and the imaging sciences. New approaches to entrenched medical problems are being studied using a cadre of “nanotool”, one example of which are perfluorocarbon nanoparticles.

P erfluorocarbon nanoparticle is a platform technology with nominal sizes around 250nm, which can be modified to home to thrombi and the neovasculature in vivo and which can be noninvasively imaged with ultrasound, magnetic resonance (MR, 1H and 19F) , or SPECT/CT . In rabbit models, perfluorocarbon nanoparticles have been demonstrated to locally deliver drug payloads targeted to vascular tissues for anti-angiogenic and anti-restenotic applications and noninvasively confirm delivery and follow response to treatment. In canine studies they have been demonstrated to target and enhance the MR and Ultrasound contract of intravascular thrombi, and using ex vivo human carotid endarterectomy sections, these paramagnetic particles have been found to provide sensitive detection of microthrombi in the fissures of ruptured plaques.

The development of emerging nanotechnology platforms, such as the perfluorocarbon nanoparticles, permits translation of immunohistology techniques from fixed tissue on a slide to live tissues in an animal. These new agents allow biochemical and physiological changes to be studied dynamically in vivo and permit site-directed therapy to be realized. Nanomedicine is poised to create strategic shifts in the management of some of the most difficult cardiovascular and oncology problems that impact all of us today.

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Location: John D. Dingell Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC), 4646 John R

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