Imaging macrophages with nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanomaterials have much to offer, not only in deciphering innate immune cell biology and tracking cells, but also in advancing personalized clinical care by providing diagnostic and prognostic information, quantifying treatment efficacy and designing better therapeutics. This Review presents different types of nanomaterial, their biological properties and their applications for imaging macrophages in human diseases, including cancer, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, aortic aneurysm, diabetes and other conditions. We anticipate that future needs will include the development of nanomaterials that are specific for immune cell subsets and can be used as imaging surrogates for nanotherapeutics. New in vivo imaging clinical tools for noninvasive macrophage quantification are thus ultimately expected to become relevant to predicting patients' clinical outcome, defining treatment options and monitoring responses to therapy.

Nanoparticle uptake by macrophages in vulnerable plaques for atherosclerosis diagnosis

“…Macrophages are known as 'big eaters', that phagocytose nanomaterials like GNP with high rate [86]. The GNP have long been used in the detection and imaging of biological processes and diseases [46,47,61,62,70,87].…”

Improved Biocompatibility of Black Phosphorus Nanosheets by Chemical Modification

“…As an important part of immune system, mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) plays a crucial role in the clearance of nanomaterials from the circulation upon medical application 9. The engulfment of nanomaterials in MPS dramatically diminished the delivery of the circulated nanomaterials to target tissues (tumors or pathological organs, etc.).…”

“…Macrophage, an important component of MPS, is the major cell type responsible for the clearance of nanomaterials from peripheral blood,9, 16 and the uptake of the high level of nanomaterials by macrophages has been regarded as the cause of serious side effects 17. Here, to evaluate their cellular uptake potential by macrophages, accumulation and localization of bare BPs and TiL 4 @BPs within raw 264.7 macrophages were examined by using Raman spectroscopy.…”

“…29. The injected nanoparticles tend to target BM because of the presence of high numbers of vessels and sinuses which contribute to a slower rate of blood flow and higher surface area, thus facilitate the accumulation of nanoparticles and their interactions with cells 9. Figure 4 a shows a significant decrease in the percentage of mature myeloid cells, as the Gr1 + /CD11b + percentage declined from 26.1 % in control group to 17.6 % in bare BPs group,30 while TiL 4 @ BPs showed no significant effect.…”

“…Spleen is the most important part of MPS, and displays high accumulation of foreign nanoparticles including BPs 9. After exposure to bare BPs, the accumulation of BPs in spleen can stimulate inflammation and recruit immune cells into this organ.…”