Targeting prostate cancer with clostridium perfringens enterotoxin functionalized nanoparticles co-encapsulating imaging cargo enhances magnetic resonance imaging specificity.

Magnetic resonance is a key imaging tool for the detection of prostate cancer; however, better tools focusing on cancer specificity are required to distinguish benign from cancerous regions. We found higher expression of claudin-3 (CLDN-3) and-4 (CLDN-4) in higher grade than lower-grade human prostate cancer biopsies (n=174), leading to the design of functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) with a non-toxic truncated version of the natural ligand clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (C-CPE) that has a strong binding affinity to Cldn-3 and Cldn-4 receptors.