title: Targeted extracellular nanoparticles enable intracellular detection of activated epidermal growth factor receptor in living brain cancer cells.
abstract: Mechanistic study of biological processes via Quantum Dots (QDs) remain constrained by inefficient QD delivery methods and consequent altered cell function. Here the authors present a rapid method to label activated receptor populations in live cancer cells derived from medulloblastoma and glioma tumors. The authors used QDs to bind the extracellular domain of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGF-R) proteins and then induced receptor activation to facilitate specific detection of intracellular, activated EGF-R subpopulations. Such labeling enables rapid identification of biological markers characteristic of tumor type, grade and chemotherapy resistance.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  In this paper, a rapid, quantum dot-based method is presented with the goal of labeling activated receptor populations in live cancer cells. More accurate characterization of medulloblastoma and glioma cancer cells using this biomarker detection technique may lead to a more specific targeted therapy.
authors.affiliation: The City College of New York, Department of Biomedical Engineering, New York, New York 10031, USA.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dudu
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rotari
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vazquez
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005910:Glioma / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008527:Medulloblastoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D045663:Quantum Dots
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors