Mesoporous silica-coated quantum dots functionalized with folic acid for lung cancer cell imaging

Abstract

The monitoring of folate receptor levels in living cancer cells has attracted increasing interest; however, the present fluorescence probes used often suffer from interference from nonspecific adsorption on the surface of non-target cells. In the present study, the probe is readily prepared by using folic acid as template molecule, a mesoporous silica nanoparticle as an imprinting material, and a CdTe quantum dot as a signal transducer for the recognition of folate receptor. This system is expected to offer specific recognition of folate receptor over other substances based on the high affinity of folic acid and folate receptor. The probe is stable and monodispersed in aqueous suspension, and has little toxicity to living cells and thus can be utilized for targeted A549 cell imaging. The living cell imaging experiments further demonstrate its value in bioimaging cell-surface folate receptor by virtue of its superior biocompatibility, lower cytotoxicity and membrane permeability.

Critical Parameters for Particle-Based Pulmonary Delivery of Chemotherapeutics

“…Small molecule Folic acid Iron oxide, (148) Mesoporous silica, (149) PEG/PLGA, (150) Chitosan, (151) Liposome (152) TFR Glycoprotein Transferrin PEG, (153) Lipid/PLGA (154) (110) lipid (5)…”

Toxicological Evaluation of Luminescent Silica Nanoparticles as New Drug Nanocarriers in Different Cancer Cell Lines

“…Hu et al synthesized a new generation of silica encapsulated single quantum dots [ 8 ]. Moreover, Zhou et al fabricated mesoporous silica-coated CdTe QDs functionalized with folic acid for targeted lung cancer cell imaging [ 9 ].…”

Current Stimuli-Responsive Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

“…Enhanced development procedures for MSNs, including structure design [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], biosafety profile characterization [ 58 , 59 ], biodistribution [ 51 , 57 , 60 , 61 ], and mechanisms of excretion studies [ 60 , 62 ], have been reported. MSN’s multi-functionality and enumerable capabilities have seen them being used in bioimaging for diagnostics (fluorescence imaging or magnetic resonance imaging) [ 35 , 51 , 63 , 64 ], biosensing and as biocatalysts [ 65 ], bone repair [ 66 ], scaffold engineering [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ], therapeutic devices (drug delivery [ 45 , 49 , 50 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ] or photothermal therapy [ 63 , 76 ]), and as theragnostic agents [ 54 ] (single nanocarriers that are capable of combining the diagnostic and therapeutic functions) [ 47 , 73 , 77 ].…”

“…This led to the optimization of MSNs’ size, architecture, and surface properties to allow for the addition of stealth agents and/or targeting ligands to enhance biocompatibility, biodistribution and accumulation at the tumor site [ 57 , 78 ]. Furthermore, tracking agents such as quantum dots, iron oxide NPs or fluorescent dyes have also been incorporated into MSNs for monitoring of the NP’s fate in the human body [ 64 ].…”