Papers Published
- Chang, E. and Miller, J. S. and Sun, J. T. and Yu, W. W. and Colvin, V. L. and Drezek, R. and West, J. L., Protease-activated quantum dot probes,
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS, vol. 334 no. 4
(September, 2005),
pp. 1317--1321 [doi] .
(last updated on 2012/02/23)Abstract:
We have developed a novel nanoparticulate luminescent probe with inherent signal amplification upon interaction with a targeted proteolytic enzyme. This construct may be useful for imaging in cancer detection and diagnosis. In this system, quantum dots (QDs) are bound to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) via a proteolytically degradable peptide sequence to non-radiatively suppress luminescence. A 71\% reduction in luminescence was achieved with conjugation of AuNPs to QDs. Release of AuNPs by peptide cleavage restores radiative QD photoluminescence. Initial studies observed a 52\% rise in luminescence over 47 h of exposure to 0.2 mg/mL collagenase. These probes can be customized for targeted degradation simply by changing the sequence of the peptide linker. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.