Wu Lintong, Tanwar Swati, Kaur Gagandeep, Date Siddhi, Goel Linika, Chatterjee Arnab, McGuiggan Patty, Barman Ishan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland 21218, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland 21218, USA.
Adv Funct Mater. 2024 Jul 24;34(30). doi: 10.1002/adfm.202309929. Epub 2024 Mar 10.
Plasmonic nanomaterials bearing targeting ligands are of great interest for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based bioimaging applications. However, the practical utility of SERS-based imaging strategies has been hindered by the lack of a straightforward method to synthesize highly sensitive SERS-active nanostructures with high yield and efficiency. In this work, leveraging DNA origami principles, we report the first-in-class design of a SERS-based plasmonically coupled nanoprobe for targeted cancer imaging (SPECTRA). The nanoprobe harnesses a cancer cell targeting DNA aptamer sequence and vibrational tag with stretching frequency in the cell-silent Raman window. Through the integration of aptamer sequence specific for DU145 cells, we show the unique capabilities of SPECTRA for targeted imaging of DU145 cells. Our results demonstrate that the scalability, cost-effectiveness, and reproducibility of this method of fabrication of SERS nanoprobes can serve as a versatile platform for creating nanoprobes with broad applications in the fields of cancer biology and biomedical imaging.
带有靶向配体的等离子体纳米材料在基于表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）的生物成像应用中备受关注。然而，基于SERS的成像策略的实际应用受到了阻碍，因为缺乏一种直接的方法来高产率、高效率地合成高灵敏度的SERS活性纳米结构。在这项工作中，我们利用DNA折纸原理，报告了用于靶向癌症成像的基于SERS的等离子体耦合纳米探针（SPECTRA）的首创设计。该纳米探针利用癌细胞靶向DNA适配体序列和在细胞沉默拉曼窗口具有拉伸频率的振动标签。通过整合针对DU145细胞的适配体序列，我们展示了SPECTRA对DU145细胞进行靶向成像的独特能力。我们的结果表明，这种制造SERS纳米探针的方法的可扩展性、成本效益和可重复性可作为一个通用平台，用于创建在癌症生物学和生物医学成像领域具有广泛应用的纳米探针。
