Journal
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages 388-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2015.312
Keywords
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Funding
- National Science Foundation (CMMI) [1437177]
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn [1437177] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Peptide nanostructures are biodegradable and are suitable for many biomedical applications. However, to be useful imaging probes, the limited intrinsic optical properties of peptides must be overcome. Here we show the formation of tryptophan-phenylalanine dipeptide nanoparticles (DNPs) that can shift the peptide's intrinsic fluorescent signal from the ultraviolet to the visible range. The visible emission signal allows the DNPs to act as imaging and sensing probes. The peptide design is inspired by the red shift seen in the yellow fluorescent protein that results from pi-pi stacking and by the enhanced fluorescence intensity seen in the green fluorescent protein mutant, BFPms1, which results from the structure rigidification by Zn(II). We show that DNPs are photostable, biocompatible and have a narrow emission bandwidth and visible fluorescence properties. DNPs functionalized with the MUC1 aptamer and doxorubicin can target cancer cells and can be used to image and monitor drug release in real time.
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