Cell-Penetrating Peptide-Functionalized Quantum Dots for Intracellular Delivery

Abstract

Quantum dots (QDs) are luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals that are widely used as fluorescent probes in biomedical applications, including cellular imaging and tumor tracking. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), also called protein transduction domains (PTDs), are short basic peptides that permeate cell membranes and are able to deliver a variety of macromolecule cargoes, such as DNAs, RNAs, proteins, and nanomaterials. Here we review strategies to couple QDs to CPPs, by either covalent linkages or noncovalent interactions, to provide a tool to study intracellular delivery. This facilitated transport of QDs by CPPs into cells is both simple and efficient. Accordingly, CPP-QD nanoparticles are likely to be of broad utility in biological research and advance the development of medical and pharmaceutical therapeutics.

Department(s)

Biological Sciences

Keywords and Phrases

Basic Peptides; Biological Research; Biomedical Applications; Cellular Imaging; Cellular Internalization; Covalent Linkage; Facilitated Transport; Fluorescent Probes; Functionalized; Intracellular Delivery; Luminescent Semiconductor Nanocrystals; Nano-Materials; Non-Covalent Interaction; Protein Transduction Domains; Quantum Dots; Tumor Tracking; Amino Acids; Arginine; Bacteriophages; Cell Membranes; Cytology; Nucleic Acids; Peptides; Semiconductor Quantum Dots; Chemistry; Methodology; Pinocytosis; Protein Transport; Cell-Penetrating Peptides; Drug Delivery Systems; Nanocomposites; Arginine-Rich

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1533-4880; 1533-4899

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 American Scientific Publishers, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 2010

PubMed ID

21121277

Link to Full Text

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