A straightforward route to the synthesis of a surface-enhanced Raman scattering probe for targeting transferrin receptor-overexpressed cells.

A tumor cell targeting surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe has been successfully synthesized by using p-mercaptobenzoic acid (pMBA) as both the SERS reporter and the conjugation agent for attaching transferrin molecules, which shows experimentally the targeting ability for transferrin receptor-overexpressed HeLa cells and exhibits strong SERS signals when being incubated inside cells. To prove that the uptake of such a SERS probe is through a Tf-receptor-mediated endocytosis process, two control experiments: (1) HeLa cells being incubated with the probe at 4 degrees C and (2) HeLa cells being pre-blocked with free transferrin at 37 degrees C, were employed. The difference of SERS intensity between the transferrin-overexpressed HeLa cells and transferrin-pre-blocked HeLa cells indicates that the probe has the potential to selectively target tumor cells.