Figure 9.

Multifunctional nanovehicle platform. NV (nanovehicle) core contains a therapeutic molecule, which can be released from NP (or delivered intracellularly, following NV internalization); it could also possess a molecular imaging agent—for example, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agent, and reporter of efficacy—luminescence/imaging reporter agent (adV). The corona is typically cationically charged, with primary amino groups which serve as a electrostatic stabilizer, and could be used to functionalize the NV surface, for example, with a targeting moiety (e.g., a peptide with an affinity to HSPG molecules); a therapeutic (peptide, protein) could be adsorbed onto the NP surface via the electrostatic interactions to provide a suitable solid-phase signal; a targeting ligand could also be coupled to a terminal end-group of PEG molecule (Pluronic F-68), serving, in the first place, as a steric stabilizer.