ZnO light-emitting nanoprobes for tumor detection

摘要

Tumor detection is a significant health issue, but it is still a limit to identify cancer cells during tumor resection by using traditional methods such as fluorescence. In this study, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods bonded to antibodies was investigated as nanoprobes for sensing cancer cells. The result shows that antibodies toward epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can be connected to ZnO nanorods and EGFR receptors of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The cancer cells can be recognized via the observation of purple light emission from these probes by using naked eye or an optical microscope. By contrast, the HS68 cells with less EGFR expression had no purple light emission as the probes were washed off. Besides, from the photoluminescent spectra, the intensity ratio between the purple light (from ZnO nanorods) and green band (from the autofluorescence of cells) is much higher in SCC than in HS68 cells, which suggest that the cancer cells can be detected by comparing the peak intensity ratio. The probes have the potential clinical application for real-time tumor detection, and the cancer cells can be excised more precisely with the help of purple light emission.