title: Aqueous synthesized near-infrared-emitting quantum dots for RGD-based in vivo active tumour targeting.
abstract: Over the past two decades, fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) have been highly attractive for a myriad of bioapplications due to their unique optical properties. For bioimaging applications, QD-based in vivo specific tumour targeting is vitally important in the biological and biomedical fields. Aqueous synthesized QDs (aqQDs) exhibit excellent aqueous dispersibility without requiring any post-treatment and have small hydrodynamic diameters (generally <5 nm), which are highly useful for bioimaging applications. We herein present the first example of in vivo active tumour targeting using water-dispersed near-infrared-emitting aqQDs modified with Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptides. In vitro and in vivo studies (e.g., tumour cell labelling, histological analysis, and active tumour targeting) demonstrate that the prepared RGD-decorated aqQDs exhibit highly bio-specific properties, enabling sensitive and specific targeting of tumour sites in both cells and living animals. Our results suggest that the new class of RGD-decorated aqQDs are highly promising as fluorescent bioprobes for a wide range of biological applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Yiling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Yanfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiangxu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D045663:Quantum Dots; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D014867:Water; C047981:arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid