Work

Probing Intracellular Biomarkers and Mediators of Cell Activation Using Nanosensors and Bioorthogonal Chemistry

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Nanomaterials offer unique physical properties that make them ideal biosensors for scant cell populations. However, specific targeting of nanoparticles to intracellular proteins has been challenging. Here, we describe a technique to improve intracellular biomarker sensing using nanoparticles that is based on bioorthogonal chemistry. Using trans-cyclooctene-modified affinity ligands that are administered to semipermeabilized cells and revealed by cycloaddition reaction with tetrazine-conjugated nanoparticles, we demonstrate site-specific amplification of nanomaterial binding. We also show that this technique is capable of sensing protein biomarkers and phosho-protein signal mediators, both within the cytosol and nucleus, via magnetic or fluorescent modalities. We expect the described method will have broad applications in nanomaterial-based diagnostics and therapeutics.

Source: ACS Nano

DOI: 10.1021/nn200333m

Authors: Jered B. Haun, Neal K. Devaraj, Brett S. Marinelli, Hakho Lee, Ralph Weissleder

Institutions: Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Click Chemistry and Applications

Subfield: Organic Chemistry

Field: Chemistry

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green