Rachel J Schaefer, Rebecca Russell, Hemanth Akkiraju1, Jeremy C Bonor, Kenneth L van Golen1, and Anja Nohe1*
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is arguably the most severe form of breast cancer with a very high mortality rate. IBC is distinct from other forms of breast cancer expressing unique cell surface markers such as hypoglycosylated MUC1. However, treatment options for IBC are limited. Calcitriol is a potential treatment for IBC due to its potential role as a therapeutic in other forms of cancer. Our previous research demonstrated that calcitriol inhibits the metastatic ability of the SUM149 IBC cell line. However, high concentration of calcitriol would be required for treatment. This may result I serious side effects such as hypercalcemia. Targeting calcitriol directly to the tumor site would allow for treatment without toxic levels of calcitriol. Here we developed SM3MUC1 antibody conjugated calcitriol bound QDs as a novel nanoparticles probe. We demonstrate that these particles can be used to target to MUC1 over-expressing IBC cells in vitro and in vivo. Therefore these particles can be used to determine the localization of IBC emboli in vivo and maybe used as a potential vehicle to deliver high doses of calcitriol to the IBC tumors and metastasis.