Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
ACS Nano. 2012 Nov 27;6(11):10033-41. doi: 10.1021/nn303729r. Epub 2012 Nov 1.
Membrane nanotubes can facilitate direct intercellular communication between cells and provide a unique channel for intercellular transfer of cellular contents. However, the transport mechanisms of membrane nanotubes remain poorly understood between cancer cells. Also largely unknown is the transport pattern mediated by membrane nanotubes. In this work, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), a widely used drug carrier and potential antineoplastic drug, was labeled with quantum dots (QDs-WGA) as a model for exploring the intercellular transportation via membrane nanotubes. We found that membrane nanotubes allowed effective transfer of QDs-WGA. Long-term single-particle tracking indicated that the movements of QDs-WGA exhibited a slow and directed motion pattern in nanotubes. Significantly, the transport of QDs-WGA was driven by myosin molecular motors in an active and unidirectional manner. These results contribute to a better understanding of cell-to-cell communication for cancer research.
细胞膜纳米管可以促进细胞之间的直接细胞间通讯，并为细胞内容物的细胞间转移提供独特的通道。然而，癌细胞之间的细胞膜纳米管的运输机制仍知之甚少。同样也不知道的是，细胞膜纳米管介导的运输模式。在这项工作中，我们将小麦胚芽凝集素（WGA）标记上量子点（QDs-WGA）作为模型，研究通过细胞膜纳米管进行的细胞间运输，WGA 是一种广泛使用的药物载体和潜在的抗肿瘤药物。我们发现细胞膜纳米管允许 QDs-WGA 的有效转移。长期的单颗粒跟踪表明，QDs-WGA 的运动在纳米管中表现出缓慢和定向的运动模式。重要的是，QDs-WGA 的运输是由肌球蛋白分子马达以主动和单向的方式驱动的。这些结果有助于更好地理解癌症研究中的细胞间通讯。
