Magnetic particle imaging reveals that iron-labeled extracellular vesicles accumulate in brains of mice with metastases

The incidence of breast cancer remains high worldwide and is associated with a significant risk of metastasis to the brain that can be fatal; this is due, in part, to the inability of therapeutics to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB). Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been found to cross the BBB and further, have been used to deliver drugs to tumors. EVs from different cell types appear to have different patterns of accumulation and retention as well as efficiency of bioactive cargo delivery to recipient cells in the body. Engineering EVs as delivery tools to treat brain metastases, therefore, will require an understanding of the timing of EV accumulation, and their localization relative to metastatic sites. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a sensitive and quantitative imaging method that directly detects superparamagnetic iron. Here, we demonstrate MPI as a novel tool to characterize EV biodistribution in metastatic disease after labeling EVs with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles. Iron-labeled EVs (FeEVs) were collected from iron-labeled parental primary 4T1 tumor cells and brain-seeking 4T1BR5 cells, followed by injection into mice with orthotopic tumors or brain metastases. MPI quantification revealed that FeEVs were retained for longer in orthotopic mammary carcinomas compared to SPIOs. MPI signal due to iron could only be detected in brains of mice bearing brain metastases after injection of FeEVs, but not SPIOs, or FeEVs when mice did not have brain metastases. These findings indicate the potential use of EVs as a therapeutic delivery tool in primary and metastatic tumors.