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Fluorescent detection of microRNA-21 in MCF-7 cells based on multifunctional gold nanorods and the integration of chemotherapy and phototherapy

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Abstract

MicroRNA-21 is an important biomarker of tumor early prediction and metastasis, and its accurate detection is of great significance for tumor diagnosis and treatment. It will be a meaningful work to combine the detection of RNA with chemotherapy and photothermal therapy on the same composite material. Herein, we designed a multifunctional nanocomposite based on gold nanorods (AuNRs), making use of microRNA-triggered drug release and near-infrared photothermal effect, which has been developed for cancer therapy and microRNA-21detection. Firstly, the AuNRs with photothermal effect were synthesized as carriers for drug delivery. Then the surface of gold nanorods was modified by functional DNA chains to provide an efficient site for doxorubicin (DOX) loading. Finally, folic acid was introduced to achieve the targeted treatment of MCF-7 cells. The microRNA competed with the double-stranded DNA, resulting in the release of DOX and the recovery of fluorescence signal located at 595 nm with an excitation of 488 nm effectively. The nano-biosensor could not only achieve dual-function of diagnosis and treatment of cancer cells, but also accomplish the detection of microRNA in tumor cells. It showed a high selectivity for microRNA-21 determination with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.1 nM from the linear relationship from 1.0 × 10−5 M to 5.0 × 10−7 M. This scheme provides an outstanding strategy for cell imaging, treatment, and detection, which serves as a promising candidate in the field of biomedical research.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21904077, 22074074, 22004078).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Optic-electric Sensing and Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, MOE, Shandong Key Laboratory of Biochemical Analysis, Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science in Universities of Shandong, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Yan Gong, Wei Yuan, Xinjie Guo, Qian Zhang, Peng Zhang & Caifeng Ding

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  1. Yan Gong
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  2. Wei Yuan
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  3. Xinjie Guo
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  4. Qian Zhang
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  6. Caifeng Ding
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Correspondence to Qian Zhang or Caifeng Ding.

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ESM 1

Experimental section, TEM image and zeta potential of the nanoprobe (Fig. S1), comparison of fluorescence recovery (Fig. S2), cell cytotoxicity of AuNRs-DNA/FA (Fig. S3), the effect of pH in vitro (Fig. S4), living cell images at different pH values (Fig. S5) and flow cytometry measurement (Fig. S6). (DOCX 1191 kb)

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Gong, Y., Yuan, W., Guo, X. et al. Fluorescent detection of microRNA-21 in MCF-7 cells based on multifunctional gold nanorods and the integration of chemotherapy and phototherapy. Microchim Acta 188, 253 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04917-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04917-8

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