Anti-hMC2RL1 Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles for Adrenocortical Tumor Cells Targeting and Imaging.

The low rate of cure of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) in children and adults is related to germ line TP53 mutation, late diagnosis, incomplete surgical resection, and lack of an efficient adjunctive therapy. To provide a new approach for the improvement of ACC diagnosis and therapy, the present study aimed to explicitly target ACC cells using gold nanoparticle (AuNP) probes bound to specific antibodies. Immunohistochemistry of ACC and positive and negative control tissue micro-sections under light microscopy was used to test a purified polyclonal antibody raised against the 80–93, outer loop 1 position of the human melanocortin receptor 2 (hMC2R). Both this and a control commercial antibody were found to specifically target cells known to express hMC2R. These were bound to FITC-labeled AuNPs and tested via direct immunofluorescence using the H295R ACC cell line. Both probes recognized only cells expressing hMC2R and exhibited very low background. Further studies are required to ascertain the potential of AuNPs bound to ACC cells for tumor diagnostics via imaging analysis or as a delivery device for targeted therapy.