Cancer Cell Targeting Using Folic Acid/Anti-HER2 Antibody Conjugated Fluorescent CdSe/CdS/ZnS-Mercaptopropionic Acid and CdTe-Mercaptosuccinic Acid Quantum Dots.

CdSe/CdS/ZnS and CdTe quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique and direct aqueous synthesis respectively using thiol stabilizers. Synthesized CdSe/CdS/ZnS and CdTe QDs stabilized with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA) were used as fluorescent labels after conjugation with folic acid (FA) and anti-HER2 antibodies. Photoluminescence quantum yield of folated CdSe/CdS/ZnS-MPA and CdTe-MSA QDs was 59% and 77% than that of non-folated hydrophilic QDs. The folate receptor-mediated delivery of folic acid-conjugated CdTe-MSA and CdSe/CdS/ZnS-MPA QDs showed higher cellular internalization as observed by confocal laser scanning microscopic studies. Folated and non-folated CdTe-MSA QDs were highly toxic and exhibited only 10% cell viability as compared to > 80% cell viability with CdSe/CdS/ZnS-MPA QDs over the concentration ranging from 3.38 to 50 pmoles. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) results of human breast cancer tissue samples showed positive results with anti-HER2 antibody conjugated CdSe/CdS/ZnS-MPA QDs with better sensitivity and specificity as compared to conventional IHC analysis using diaminobenzedene staining.