title: Bacteria-mediated in vivo delivery of quantum dots into solid tumor.
abstract: Semiconductor nanocrystals, so-called quantum dots (QDs), promise potential application in bioimaging and diagnosis in vitro and in vivo owing to their high-quality photoluminescence and excellent photostability as well as size-tunable spectra. Here, we describe a biocompatible, comparatively safe bacteria-based system that can deliver QDs specifically into solid tumor of living animals. In our strategy, anaerobic bacterium Bifidobacterium bifidum (B. bifidum) that colonizes selectively in hypoxic regions of animal body was successfully used as a vehicle to load with QDs and transported into the deep tissue of solid tumors. The internalization of lipid-encapsuled QDs into B. bifidum was conveniently carried by electroporation. To improve the efficacy and specificity of tumor targeting, the QDs-carrying bacterium surface was further conjugated with folic acids (FAs) that can bind to the folic acid receptor overexpressed tumor cells. This new approach opens a pathway for delivering different types of functional cargos such as nanoparticles and drugs into solid tumor of live animals for imaging, diagnosis and therapy.
authors.affiliation: Single-molecule and Nanobiology Lab., Dept. of Biophysics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, No. 38 Xue Yuan Road, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuankai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Yepeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yinlin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sha
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000378:metabolism*; D018827:Carcinoma, Lewis Lung; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D018274:Electroporation; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D045663:Quantum Dots; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid