Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) play a major role in angiogenesis, which is important in cell development/proliferation and wound healing, but has been implicated in a wide range of cancers. Finding new methods to image and understand angiogenesis under physiological conditions may eventually lead to developing better cancer treatments. Fluorescence imaging is particularly attractive due to its high sensitivity and spatial resolution and quantum dots (QDs) are currently one of the most attractive fluorescent probes due to their high brightness and photo stability and long fluorescence lifetime. However, most current biomedical imaging with QDs use Cd-based QDs. Developing fluorescent QDs that utilize non-toxic materials will allow for a safer use of fluorescent probes in more biological environments. CuInS2/ZnS is an excellent candidate for this, but their synthesis and application is much less well-developed than Cd-based QDs. In order to be able to use such QDs they need to be made soluble in water and to maintain stability in physiological environments, after which they can be bioconjugated to proteins such as FGF. Here we report on water solubilization procedures for CIS/ZnS, and how this affects their fluorescence properties. Then, we study the bioconjugation of these water-soluble CuInS2/ZnS to FGF. We accomplish this by first labeling the FGF with an acceptor dye and then determine the QD:protein conjugation ratio under various conditions by FRET. Once an optimal QD:protein ratio has been determined, we will perform in-vitro fluorescent imaging studies of how FGF affects angiogenesis followed by in-vivo studies.

Water solubilization of CuInS2/ZnS QDs and bioconjugation to fibroblast growth factor studied by FRET

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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