title: Binary System for MicroRNA-Targeted Imaging in Single Cells and Photothermal Cancer Therapy.
abstract: Abnormal expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is often associated with tumorigenesis, metastasis, and progression. Among them, miRNA-21 is found to be overexpressed in most of the cancer cells. Here, a binary system is designed for miRNA-21 targeted imaging and photothermal treatment in single cells. The binary system is composed by a pair of probes (probe-1 and probe-2), which are encapsulated in liposomes for cell delivery. Both of the two probes adopt gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as the core material, and the AuNPs are functionalized with Cy5-marked molecular beacon (MB-1/MB-2 for probe-1/probe-2, respectively). The loop part of MBs are designed to be complementary with miRNA-21. Therefore, after the binary system enters into the cytoplasm, MBs can be opened upon miRNA-21 triggered hybridization, which turns "on" the fluorescence of Cy5 for the localization of miRNA-21. At the same time, a cross-linking between the probes occurs since the far ends of MB-1 and MB-2 are designed to be complementary with each other. The miRNA-induced aggregation shifts the absorption of AuNPs to near-infrared, which can be observed under dark-field microscopy (DFM) and used for the following photothermal therapy. Under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, MCF-7 breast cancer cells are successfully killed. The proposed system can be further applied in tumor-bearing mice and shows significant therapeutic effect. This work provides a new tool for intracellular miRNA analysis and targeted treatment against cancer.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ruo-Can
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi-Tao
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D010316:Particle Size; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D010789:Phototherapy; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis; D013696:Temperature; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs