Chen Limei, Li Haijuan, He Haili, Wu Haoxi, Jin Yongdong
†State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, P.R. China.
‡Department of Cell Biology, Basic Medical College, Beihua University, Jilin, Jilin 132013, P. R. China.
Anal Chem. 2015 Jul 7;87(13):6868-74. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b01260. Epub 2015 Jun 10.
Fast and accurate identification of cancer cells from healthy normal cells in a simple, generic way is very crucial for early cancer detection and treatment. Although functional nanoparticles, like fluorescent quantum dots and plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs), have been successfully applied for cancer cell imaging and photothermal therapy, they suffer from the main drawback of needing time-consuming targeting preparation for specific cancer cell detection and selective ablation. The lack of a generic and effective method therefore limits their potential high-throughput cancer cell preliminary screening and theranostic applications. We report herein a generic in vitro method for fast, targeting-free (avoiding time-consuming preparations of targeting moiety for specific cancer cells) visual screening and selective killing of cancer cells from normal cells, by using glucose-responsive/-sensitive glucose oxidase-modified Ag/Au nanoshells (Ag/Au-GOx NSs) as a smart plasmonic theranostic agent. The method is generic to some extent since it is based on the distinct localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) responses (and colors) of the smart nanoprobe with cancer cells (typically have a higher glucose uptake level) and normal cells.