iRGD peptide as effective transporter of CuInZnxS2+x quantum dots into human cancer cells.
In this paper, iRGD peptide-mediated quantum dots (QDs) delivery was studied. In the first step, dodecanethiol-capped CuInZnxS2+x (ZCIS) QDs were prepared and subsequently transferred into water using a standard and facile ligand exchange approach involving 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA). ZCIS@MPA nanocrystals possess a photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) of 25%, a PL emission centered at ca. 640nm and low distributions in size and shape. Next, the iRGD peptide was electrostatically associated to ZCIS@MPA QDs. After cytotoxicity evaluation, the tumor-targeting and penetrating activities of the iRGD/QD assembly were investigated by confocal microscopy. The experiments performed on various cancer cell lines revealed a high penetration ability of the assembly, while the bare QDs were not internalized. Additionally, imaging experiments were conducted on three-dimensional multicellular tumor spheroids in order to mimic the tumor microenvironment in vivo. iRGD/QD assemblies were found to be evenly distributed throughout the whole HeLa spheroid contrary to normal cells where they were not present. Therefore, iRGD/QD assemblies have a great potential to be used as targeted imaging agents and/or nanocarriers specific to cancer cells.
['Przysiecka|Łucja|Ł|', 'Michalska|Martyna|M|', 'Nowaczyk|Grzegorz|G|', 'Peplińska|Barbara|B|', 'Jesionowski|Teofil|T|', 'Schneider|Raphaël|R|', 'Jurga|Stefan|S|']
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents D001859:Bone Neoplasms D001943:Breast Neoplasms D049109:Cell Proliferation D003300:Copper D004337:Drug Carriers D005260:Female D006367:HeLa Cells D006801:Humans D007811:Lanthanum D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission D009842:Oligopeptides D012516:Osteosarcoma D045663:Quantum Dots D018874:Spheroids, Cellular D013440:Sulfides D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured D017967:Zinc Compounds
iRGD peptide Tumor spheroids Cell labelling CuInZn(x)S(2+x) QDs Tumor-targeted delivery