Quantitative molecular profiling of biomarkers for pancreatic cancer with functionalized quantum dots
Cette étude évalue une méthode à base de conjugués anticorps-boîtes quantiques ("quantum dots") pour la mesure de biomarqueurs du cancer du pancréas
Applications in nanomedicine, such as diagnostics and targeted therapeutics, rely on the detection and targeting of membrane biomarkers. In this paper we demonstrate absolute quantitative profiling, spatial mapping, and multiplexing of cancer biomarkers using functionalized quantum dots. We demonstrate highly selective targeting molecular markers for pancreatic cancer with extremely low levels of non-specific binding. We confirm that we have saturated all biomarkers on the cell surface, and, in conjunction with control experiments, extract absolute quantitative values for the biomarker density in terms of the number of molecules per square micrometer on the cell surface. We show that we can obtain quantitative spatial information of biomarker distribution on a single cell, important since tumors cell populations are inherently heterogeneous. We validate our quantitative measurements (number of molecules per square micron) using flow cytometry and demonstrate multiplexed quantitative profiling using color-coded quantum dots. Quantitative targeting of pancreatic cancer biomarkers is demonstrated using quantum dot - antibody conjugates. Profiling and spatial mapping at the single cell level can be are achieved through minimizing non-specific binding and aggregation.
Nanomedicine : nanotechnology, biology, and medicine , résumé, 2011