Highly Sensitive Diagnosis of Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using pH-Responsive Iron Oxide Nanocluster Assemblies

Iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP)-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents have been widely used for the diagnosis of hepatic lesions. However, current IONP-based liver-specific MRI contrast agents rely on single-phase contrast enhancement of the normal liver, which is not sensitive enough to detect early stage small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). We herein report i-motif DNA-assisted pH-responsive iron oxide nanocluster assemblies...