Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are characterized by orders of magnitude higher multiphoton linear absorption cross-sections compared with conventional organic dyes. Combined with the QD photoluminescence quantum yield approaching 100%, this fact opens great prospects for the twophoton functional tumor imaging with QDs tagged with highly specific recognition molecules. Single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) or “nanobodies” derived from lamas are the smallest high-affinity recognition molecules, which may be tagged with the QDs thus permitting not only solid tumors multiphoton imaging but also rare disseminated cancer cells and micrometastases in the depth of the tissue to be detected. Additionally, unique photostability of QDs enables signal accumulation and significant enhancement of the sensitivity of routine biochemical and immunohistochemical assays to be obtained when the conjugates of QDs, instead of organic dyes, are used.
Quantum dots (QDs) are fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals with a high photostability, wide absorption spectra, and narrow, size-tunable emission spectra, which make them promising nanolabels to be encapsulated in microcarriers used as bioimaging and theranostic tools. Here, we describe an approach to the optical encoding of polyelectrolyte microcapsules with the prepared stable water-soluble QDs and key stages of surface functionalization of these microcapsules with cetuximab, humanised monoclonal anticancer antibody. Obtained conjugates demonstrate the specificity and efficiency of the engineered system as a cancer cell–targeted tracing tool that could be used for cancer diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cancer therapy.
Advanced multiplexed assays have recently become an indispensable tool for clinical diagnostics. These techniques provide simultaneous quantitative determination of multiple biomolecules in a single sample quickly and accurately. The development of multiplex suspension arrays is currently of particular interest for clinical applications. Optical encoding of microparticles is the most available and easy-to-use technique. This technology uses fluorophores incorporated into microbeads to obtain individual optical codes. Fluorophore-encoded beads can be rapidly analyzed using classical flow cytometry or microfluidic techniques. We have developed a new generation of highly sensitive and specific diagnostic systems for detection of cancer antigens in human serum samples based on microbeads encoded with fluorescent quantum dots (QDs). The designed suspension microarray system was validated for quantitative detection of (1) free and total prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the serum of patients with prostate cancer and (2) carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) in the serum of patients with breast cancer. The serum samples from healthy donors were used as a control. The antigen detection is based on the formation of an immune complex of a specific capture antibody (Ab), a target antigen (Ag), and a detector Ab on the surface of the encoded particles. The capture Ab is bound to the polymer shell of microbeads via an adapter molecule, for example, protein A. Protein A binds a monoclonal Ab in a highly oriented manner due to specific interaction with the Fc-region of the Ab molecule. Each antigen can be recognized and detected due to a specific microbead population carrying the unique fluorescent code. 100 and 231 serum samples from patients with different stages of prostate cancer and breast cancer, respectively, and those from healthy donors were examined using the designed suspension system. The data were validated by comparing with the results of the “gold standard” enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). They have shown that our approach is a good alternative to the diagnostics of cancer markers using conventional assays, especially in early diagnostic applications.
Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a unique protein of purple membranes (PMs) of the bacterium Halobacteriumsalinarum. Tight trimers of this integral photochromic protein form a highly ordered 2D hexagonal crystalline lattice within the PMs. Due to strong excitonic interactions between the bR chromophores (retinals) in the protein trimers, PMs exhibit a strong circular dichroism (CD) activity in the region of the retinal absorption band, which allows monitoring the regularity and stability of the bR trimer organization within the membrane. In this study, the effects of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) on the bR intramembrane organization and the time
course of bR monomerization caused by detergents have been analyzed. The results show that the interaction with QDs does not influence the bR structural organization but considerably accelerates the monomerization of the protein by detergents. These data have been confirmed by the results of atomic force microscopy (AFM) followed by Fourier transform analysis, which have shown that interactions with QDs cause an eightfold acceleration of bR monomerization with Triton. The data show that interactions of nanoparticles with biological membranes may modulate the membrane fluidity and the structural organization and function of integral proteins embedded in these membranes.
Semiconductor fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) have just demonstrated their numerous advantages over organic
dyes in bioimaging and diagnostics. One of characteristics of QDs is a very large cross section of their twophoton
absorption. A common approach to biodetection by means of QDs is to use monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for targeting. Recently, we have engineered ultrasmall diagnostic nanoprobes (sdAb–QD) based on highly oriented conjugates of QDs with the single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) against cancer biomarkers. With a molecular weight of only 13 kDa (12-fold smaller than full-size mAbs) and extreme stability and capacity to refolding, sdAbs are the smallest functional Ab fragments capable of binding antigens with affinities comparable to those of conventional Abs. Ultrasmall diagnostic sdAb–QD nanoprobes were engineered through oriented conjugation of QDs with sdAbs. This study is the first to demonstrate the possibility of immunohistochemical imaging of colon carcinoma biomarkers with sdAb–QD conjugates by means of two-photon excitation. The optimal excitation conditions for imaging of the markers in clinical samples with sdAb–QD nanoprobes have been determined. The absence of sample autofluorescence significantly improves the sensitivity of biomarker detection with the use of the two-photon excitation diagnostic setup.
Agglomeration of some proteins may give rise to aggregates that have been identified as the main cause of amyloid
diseases. For example, fibrillation of insulin is related to diabetes mellitus. Quantum dots (QDs) are of special interest as
tagging agents for diagnostic and therapeutic studies due to their broad absorption spectra, narrow emission spectra, and
high photostability. In this study, PEGylated CdSe/ZnS QDs have been shown to induce the formation of amyloid-like
fibrils of human insulin under physiological conditions, this process being dependent on the variation of the surface
charge of the nanoparticles (NPs) used. Circular dichroism (CD), protein secondary structure analysis, thioflavin T (ThT)
fluorescence assay, and the dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique have been used for comparative analysis of
different stages of the fibrillation process. In particular, insulin secondary structure remodelling accompanied by a
considerable increase in the rate of amyloid fiber formation have been observed after insulin was mixed with PEGylated
QDs. Nanoparticles may significantly influence the rate of protein fibrillation and induce new mechanisms of amyloid
diseases, as well as offer opportunities for their treatment.
Optical materials based on cholesteric liquid crystals (LCs) doped with fluorescent CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) have been developed and demonstrated to have a wide photonic band gap. It has been shown that the fluorescence emission of QDs embedded in LCs is circularly polarized and that the dissymmetry factor of this polarization may be optically or electrically controlled via conformational changes in the helical structure of the LC matrix. The possibility of photochemical patterning or image recording using these materials has been demonstrated; the recorded information can be read through changes in the dissymmetry factor of circular polarization of QDs emission. The developed photo- and electro-active materials with a controlled degree of fluorescence circular polarization may be used as on-demand single photon sources in photonics, optoelectronics, and quantum cryptography, as well as for development of nanophotonic systems capable of low-threshold lasing.
KEYWORDS: Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, Energy transfer, Data modeling, Luminescence, Phase modulation, Absorption, Promethium, Proteins, Energy efficiency, Quantum dots
Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) and the photochromic
protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in its natural purple membrane (PM) has been modulated by independent tuning of the Förster radius, overlap integral of the donor emission spectrum and acceptor absorption spectrum, and the distance between the donor (QD) and acceptor (bR retinal). The results have shown that the observed energy transfer from QDs to bR corresponds to that predicted by a multiple-acceptors geometric model describing the FRET phenomenon for QDs quasi-epitaxied on a crystalline lattice of bR trimers. Linking of QDs and bR via streptavidin–biotin linkers of different lengths caused FRET with an efficiency reaching 82%, strongly exceeding the values predicted by the classical FRET theory. The data not only demonstrate the possibility of nano-bioengineering of efficient hybrid materials with controlled energy-transfer properties, but also emphasize the necessity to develop an advanced theory of nano–bio energy transfer that would explain experimental effects contradicting the existing theoretical models.
In the past decades, increasing attention has been paid to the preparation of “smart” functionalized polymer particles
reversibly responding to slight environmental changes, such as variations in temperature, pH, and ionic strength. The
composite polymer particles consisting of a solid poly(acrolein-co-styrene) core and a poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL)
polymer shell doped with CdSe/ZnS semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) were prepared. The thermosensitive response of
the composite particles was observed as a decrease in their hydrodynamic diameter upon heating above the lower critical
solution temperature of the thermosensitive PVCL polymer used as a shell. Embedding QDs in the PVCL shell makes it
possible to obtain particles whose fluorescence is sensitive to temperature changes. The temperature-dependent
fluorescence of particles was determined by reversible variation of the distances between QDs in the PVCL shell as a
result of temperature-driven conformational changes in this polymer. In addition, these particles can be used as carriers
of biomolecule (e.g., bovine serum albumin, BSA) characterized by reversibly temperature-dependent fluorescence,
which can serve as the basis for optical detection methods in bioassays, such as the measurement of local temperature in
nanovolumes, biosensing, etc.
Monodispersed semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) specifically immobilized on the surface of purple
membranes (PMs) containing bacteriorhodopsin (bR) can harvest light in the UV to blue region, which cannot be
absorbed efficiently by the PMs alone, and transfer the harvested energy to the retinal chromophores of bR via highly
efficient Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). CdTe or CdSe/ZnS QDs with a quantum yield as high as 70% have
been used to estimate different parameters characterizing the improvement of the bR biological function caused by
nanocrystals. AFM examination has shown that the most FRET-efficient QD–PM hybrid structures are characterized by
the highest level of QD ordering; hence, AFM imaging of bR–PM hybrid materials provides the basis for optimization of
the assembly design in order to engineer bio-hybrid structures with advanced optical and photovoltaic properties.
Oriented bR-containing proteoliposomes tagged with QDs at a QD-to-bR molar ratio of up to 1:5 have been engineered
and used to analyze the photoresponse, with the bR proton pumping considerably increased. Finally, the kinetics of the
potential/current generation in films of oriented bR containing or not containing QDs have been analyzed. Incorporation
of QDs resulted in an increase in the potential/current generation rate and in an almost fourfold increase in the rate of Mform
formation. Thus, the improvement of the bR native function by QDs may be caused by two reasons: an extension of
the range of utilized light and an increase in the rate of the bR photocycle.
Considerable magneto-optical activity has been observed in aqueous solutions of colloidal noble metal nanoparticles (Au
and Ag, 2–50 nm in diameter) in a magnetic field as low as 0.5 T parallel to the propagation of the incident light exciting
localized surface plasmons in the nanoparticles. The magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra show pronounced
Zeeman splitting in the plasmon absorption bands. The observed magneto-optical effects is due to the enhancement of
the magnetic Lorentz force for localized surface plasmons in resonantly excited strongly polarizable Ag and Au
nanoparticles. The magnitude and the spectral position of the MCD signal depend on the contribution of scattering and
absorption components in the extinction spectra of nanoparticles. Addition of pyridine into the colloidal solution of silver
nanoparticles causes aggregation of nanoparticles and the appearance of a characteristic intense long-wavelength band in
the extinction spectrum. The MCD spectrum also shows signals from short- and long-wavelength components. The
possible method for MCD biosensing based on controlled aggregation of plasmonic nanoparticles in the presence of
analyte followed by differential MCD detection in the long-wavelength region is discussed.
Alyona Sukhanova, Klervi Even-Desrumeaux, Jean-Marc Millot, Patrick Chames, Daniel Baty, Mikhail Artemyev, Vladimir Oleinikov, Jacques Cohen, Igor Nabiev
Ideal diagnostic nanoprobes should not exceed 15 nm in size and should contain high-affinity homogeneously oriented
capture molecules on their surface. An advanced procedure for antibody (Ab) reduction was used to cleave each Ab into
two functional half-Abs, 75-kDa heavy-light chain fragments, each containing an intact antigen-binding site. Affinity
purification of half-Abs followed by their linkage to quantum dots (QDs) yielded oriented QD-Ab conjugates whose
functionality was considerably improved compared to those obtained using the standard protocols. Ultrasmall diagnostic
nanoprobes were engineered through oriented conjugation of QDs with 13-kDa single-domain Abs (sdAbs) derived from
llama IgG. sdAbs were tagged with QDs via an additional cysteine residue specifically integrated into the C-terminal
region of sdAb using genetic engineering. This approach made it possible to obtain sdAb-QD nanoprobes <12 nm in
diameter comprising four copies of sdAbs linked to the same QD in an oriented manner. sdAb-QD conjugates against
carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and HER2 exhibited an extremely high specificity in flow cytometry; the quality of immunohistochemical labeling of biopsy samples was found to be superior to that of labeling according to the current
"gold standard" protocols of anatomo-pathological practice. The nano-bioengineering approaches developed can be extended to oriented conjugation of Abs and sdAbs with different semiconductor, noble metal, or magnetic nanoparticles.
The potential impact of nanoscience on energy transfer processes in biomolecules was investigated on the example of a
complex between fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals and photochromic membrane protein. The interactions
between colloidal CdTe quantum dots (QDs) and bacteriorhodopsin (bR) protein were studied by a variety of
spectroscopic techniques, including integrated and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopies, zeta potential and size
measurement, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. QDs' luminescence was found to be strongly modulated by
bacteriorhodopsin, but in a controllable way. Decreasing emission lifetimes and blue shifts in QDs' emission at
increasing protein concentrations suggest that quenching occurs via Förster resonance energy transfer. On the other hand,
concave Stern-Volmer plots and sigmoidal photoluminescence quenching curves imply that the self-assembling of NCs
and bR exists, and the number of nanocrystals (NCs) per bacteriorhodopsin contributing to energy transfer can be
determined from the inflection points of sigmoidal curves. This number was found to be highly dependent not only on
the spectral overlap between NC emission and bR absorption bands, but also on nanocrystal surface charge. These
results demonstrate the potential of how inorganic nanoscale materials can be employed to improve the generic
molecular functions of biomolecules. The observed interactions between CdTe nanocrystals and bacteriorhodopsin can
provide the basis for the development of novel functional materials with unique photonic properties and applications in
areas such as all-optical switching, photovoltaics and data storage.
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