Antibody-Functionalized Inorganic NPs: Mimicking Nature for Targeted Diagnosis and Therapy - Bioinspired Approaches for Human-Centric Technologies - page 15

Fig. 1.3 The cartoon presents the most significant diagnostic and therapeutic applications of the
antibody-nanoparticle formulations in tumor models. The image is divided into three segments,
one per each type of nanoparticles, i.e., magnetic-, gold-, and lanthanide-doped nanoparticles. In
the case of magnetic nanoparticles, MR imaging and magnetic hyperthermia are the most
promising applications. Images of the cartoon are adapted from Yang et al. ( 2009 ) and Li
et al. ( 2013 ), respectively. In the case of gold nanocrystals, imaging through X-ray-CT [image
adapted from Reuveni et al. ( 2011 )] and therapy by means of radio-frequency-mediated hyper-
thermia [adapted from Glazer et al. ( 2010 )] are under investigation. Finally, lanthanide-doped
nanocrystals are emerging as new MRI tools [adapted from Hou et al. ( 2013 )]
Overall, we can summarize that, in the construction of inorganic nanoparticle
antibody or antibody fragment formulations, the density and the orientation of the
antibody per nanoparticles are the two main parameters which need to be controlled
for achieving the optimal performance of the resulting conjugates.
An additional aspect to be considered regards the immunological compatibility
between the antibody and the host organism in which the antibody (either free or
bound to the nanoparticles) will be injected. Chimeric antibodies represent fusion