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Single-excited double-emission CdTe@CdS quantum dots for use in a fluorometric hybridization assay for multiple tumor-related microRNAs

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Abstract

A method is described for the simultaneous determination of hepatocellular carcinoma-associated microRNA-122 and microRNA-199a/b-3p. This probe consists of two kinds of nanomaterials. The first comprises CdTe@CdS core-shell quantum dots which, on excitation at 375 nm give two emissions, with peak wavelengths at 543 (g-QDs) and at 627 nm (r-QDs). The second comprises gold nanoparticles acting as a quencher. In the absence of the target, g-QD-N1 and r-QD-N2 are stable due to the fluorescence stability. With the addition of microRNA-122 and microRNA-199a/b-3p, g-QD-N1 and r-QD-N2 are conjugated to the surface of AuNP-S1/S2 through base complementary pairing. As a result, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) occurs, resulting in a decrease at 550 nm and 635 nm respectively, which can realize the simultaneous detection of two different microRNAs. Detection is achieved within 50 min. The detection limits (3σ/k) are 0.2 nM for microRNA-122 and 0.5 nM for microRNA-199a/b-3p. The clinical applicability of the assay was demonstrated by detecting microRNAs in human serum and different cell lysates.

Schematic for the simultaneous determination of microRNA-122 and microRNA-199a/b-3p by FRET.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21775132), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (No.2018JJ2388), Hunan 2011 Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Engineering & Technology with Environmental Benignity and Effective Resource Utilization, and “1515”academic leader team program of Hunan Agricultural University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Green Organic Synthesis and Application of Hunan Province, Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Chemistry and Application of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Ling Xiang, Chunyan Chen & Changqun Cai

  2. School of chemistry and materials science, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China

    Feng Zhang & Jian Feng

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  1. Ling Xiang
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  2. Feng Zhang
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  3. Jian Feng
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  4. Chunyan Chen
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  5. Changqun Cai
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: Ling Xiang, Jian Feng, Chunyan Chen performed the experiments. Feng Zhang and Changqun Cai supervised all research. Changqun Cai also wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to reagents/materials/technical support to this study.

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Correspondence to Chunyan Chen or Changqun Cai.

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Xiang, L., Zhang, F., Feng, J. et al. Single-excited double-emission CdTe@CdS quantum dots for use in a fluorometric hybridization assay for multiple tumor-related microRNAs. Microchim Acta 187, 134 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-020-4117-y

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