PEGylated crushed gold shell-radiolabeled core nanoballs for in vivo tumor imaging with dual positron emission tomography and Cerenkov luminescent imaging

BACKGROUND: Radioactive isotope-labeled gold nanomaterials have potential biomedical applications. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of PEGylated crushed gold shell-radioactive iodide-124-labeled gold core nanoballs (PEG-(124)I-Au@AuCBs) for in vivo tumor imaging applications through combined positron emission tomography and Cerenkov luminescent imaging (PET/CLI). RESULTS: PEG-(124)I-Au@AuCBs showed high stability and sensitivity in various pH solutions, serum, and in vivo conditions and were not toxic to tested cells. Combined PET/CLI clearly revealed tumor lesions at 1 h after injection of particles, and both signals remained visible in tumor lesions at 24 h, consistent with the biodistribution results. CONCLUSION: Taken together, the data provided strong evidence for the application of PEG-(124)I-Au@AuCBs as promising imaging agents in nuclear medicine imaging of various biological systems, particularly in cancer diagnosis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12951-018-0366-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.