- Li, Kangan;
- Gordon, Andrew C;
- Zheng, Linfeng;
- Li, Weiguo;
- Guo, Yang;
- Sun, Jing;
- Zhang, Guixiang;
- Han, Guohong;
- Larson, Andrew C;
- Zhang, Zhuoli
Aim
To test the hypothesis that MRI can monitor intraportal vein (IPV) transcatheter delivery of clinically applicable heparin-protamine-ferumoxytol (HPF) nanocomplex-labeled natural killer (NK) cells to liver tumor.Materials & methods
Liver tumor rat models underwent catheterization for IPV infusion of HPF-labeled NK cells (NK-92MI cell line). MRI measurements within tumor and adjacent liver tissues were compared pre- and post-NK cell infusion. Histology studies were used to identify NK cells in the target tumors.Results
For first time, we demonstrated that MRI tracks HPF-labeled NK cells migration within liver following IPV delivery.Conclusion
IPV transcatheter infusion permitted selective delivery of NK cells to liver tissues and MRI allowed tracking NK cell biodistributions within the tumors.