Specific Binding of Novel SPION-Based System Bearing Anti-N-Cadherin Antibodies to Prostate Tumor Cells

Purpose Epithelial-mesenchymal (EMT) transition plays an important role in metastasis and is accompanied by an upregulation of N-cadherin expression. A new nanoparticulate system (SPION/CCh/N-cad) based on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, stabilized with a cationic derivative of chitosan and surface-modified with anti-N-cadherin antibody, was synthetized for the effective capture of N-cadherin expressing circulating tumor cells (CTC). Methods The morphology, physicochemical, and magnetic properties of the system were evaluated using dynamic light scattering (DLS), fluorescence spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy, magnetometry, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), confocal microscopy and flow cytometry were used to study the interaction of our nanoparticulate system with N-cadherin expressed in prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU 145). A purpose-built cuvette was used in the cancer cell capture experiments. Results The obtained nanoparticles were a spherical, stable colloid, and exhibited excellent magnetic properties. Biological experiments confirmed that the novel SPION/CCh/N-cad system interacts specifically with N-cadherin present on the cell surface. Preliminary studies on the magnetic capture of PC-3 cells using the obtained nanoparticles were successful. Incubation times as short as 1 minute were sufficient for the synthesized system to effectively bind to the PC-3 cells. Conclusion Results obtained for our system suggest a possibility of using it to capture CTC in the flow conditions.