College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, 830054, China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
Talanta. 2020 May 15;212:120796. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.120796. Epub 2020 Jan 31.
Targeted imaging of cancer cells is crucial for early diagnosis. Mucin is a transmembrane protein that is overexpressed by cancer cells and is considered a cancer target. Specific recognition of mucin by aptamers has been receiving increasing attention in recent years. In this study, we use DNA MUC1 aptamer as a protective agent and target molecule in the synthesis of ultra-small fluorescent gold nanoclusters (MUC1-AuNCs) via a simple one-step method. MUC1-AuNCs exhibited red fluorescence emission with excellent stability over a wide pH range and under strong illumination. Confocal images showed that the synthesized MUC1-AuNCs efficiently targeted mucin overexpressing 4T1 cancer cells, but were not observed in 293T normal cells. Furthermore, the MUC1-AuNCs had a 5667 ns lifetime and 235 nm Stokes shifts and markedly eliminated background interference, suggesting they are a promising fluorescent probe for cell-targeted labeling and imaging.
靶向癌细胞成像对于早期诊断至关重要。黏蛋白是一种跨膜蛋白，在癌细胞中过度表达，被认为是癌症的靶点。近年来，适体对黏蛋白的特异性识别受到越来越多的关注。在这项研究中，我们使用 DNA MUC1 适体作为保护剂和靶向分子，通过简单的一步法合成超小荧光金纳米团簇（MUC1-AuNCs）。MUC1-AuNCs 表现出红色荧光发射，在很宽的 pH 范围和强光照下具有优异的稳定性。共焦图像显示，合成的 MUC1-AuNCs 能够有效地靶向过度表达黏蛋白的 4T1 癌细胞，但在 293T 正常细胞中没有观察到。此外，MUC1-AuNCs 的寿命为 5667 ns，Stokes 位移为 235nm，明显消除了背景干扰，表明它们是一种很有前途的用于细胞靶向标记和成像的荧光探针。
