Au@SiO 2 @CuInS 2 -ZnS/Anti-AFP fluorescent probe improves HCC cell labeling

• Published in: Hepatobiliary & pancreatic diseases international Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 266 - 272
• Main Authors: Dai, Yi-Wen, Zhu, Li-Xin, Zhang, Yan, Wang, Shu-Hui, Chen, Kui, Jiang, Tong-Tong, Xu, Xiao-Liang, Geng, Xiao-Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Division of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230601, China%Division of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China%Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China%Department of Physics, Anhui University, Hefei 230020, China 01.06.2019
• Subjects: alpha-Fetoproteins - metabolism; Animals; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - diagnostic imaging; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - metabolism; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Injections, Subcutaneous; Liver Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Liver Neoplasms - metabolism; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Nude; Molecular Imaging - methods; Molecular Probes - administration & dosage; Molecular Probes - metabolism; Molecular Probes - toxicity; Nanoparticles; Optical Imaging - methods; Quantum Dots; Tissue Distribution; Cytotoxicity; Nanoparticle; Quantum dots; Luminescence; Plasmon enhancement
• ISSN: 1499-3872

Clear tumor imaging is essential to the resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to create a novel biological probe to improve the HCC imaging. Au nano-flower particles and CuInS -ZnS core-shell quantum dots were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Au was coated with porous SiO and combined with anti-AFP antibody. HCC cell line HepG2 was used to evaluate the targeting efficacy of the probe, while flow cytometry and MTT assay were used to detect the cytotoxicity and bio-compatibility of the probe. Probes were subcutaneously injected to nude mice to explore light intensity and tissue penetration. The fluorescence stability of the probe was maintained 100% for 24 h, and the brightness value was 4 times stronger than that of the corresponding CuInS -ZnS quantum dot. In the targeting experiment, the labeled HepG2 emitted yellow fluorescence. In the cytotoxicity experiments, MTT and flow cytometry results showed that the bio-compatibility of the probe was fine, the inhibition rate of HepG2 cell with 60% Cu-QDs/Anti-AFP probe and Au-QDs/Anti-AFP probe solution for 48 h were significantly different (86.3%±7.0% vs. 4.9%±1.3%, t = 19.745, P<0.05), and the apoptosis rates were 83.3%±5.1% vs. 4.4%±0.8% (P<0.001). In the animal experiment, the luminescence of the novel probe can penetrate the abdominal tissues of a mouse, stronger than that of CuInS -ZnS quantum dot. The Au@SiO @CuInS -ZnS/Anti-AFP probe can targetedly recognize and label HepG2 cells with good bio-compatibility and no toxicity, and the strong tissue penetrability of luminescence may be helpful to surgeons.