Multimodality imaging of endothelial progenitor cells with a novel multifunctional probe featuring positive magnetic resonance contrast and near-infrared fluorescence.

The multimodal strategy incorporating T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging can complement their strengths to provide images with high sensitivity and spatial resolution for noninvasively and dynamically monitoring endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in potential EPC-dominated therapies. Here we report the development of a protein-based imaging probe, bCD-PLL-Cy5.5 Conjugate 1, in which the bacterial cytosine deaminase (bCD) protein was modified with poly-l-lysine (PLL) that is labeled with imaging reporters, including T1-weighted MRI contrast chelator and NIR fluorophore. Conjugate 1 showed low cytotoxicity in EPCs isolated from the rabbit peripheral blood. The normalized cell viability was maintained above 90% after incubation for 1 to 5 days. Fluorescence microscopy of live cells indicated rapid cellular uptake of Conjugate 1 into EPCs in 15 minutes, and flow cytometry studies demonstrated the time-dependent internalization of Conjugate 1 with maximum uptake 48 hours after the treatment. MRI of phantoms demonstrated significant reduction of the T1 value of the EPC pellet that was pretreated with 2 µM of Conjugate 1 for 24 hours. Our preliminary data suggest that as a multimodal imaging contrast medium, Conjugate 1 offers a promising imaging probe for tracking the delivery and therapeutic response of EPCs in vivo.