Quantum Dot-Based Technologies for Cancer Cell Imaging, Diagnosis Applications and Therapy

During the last two decades, a great deal of attention has been focused on the optoelectronicproperties of nanostructure semiconductors or quantum dots (QDs) as a fluorescent probe forcancer cell recognition and treatment, quantitative evaluation of the specific molecular targetsand guide targeted cancer therapy by providing efficient markers for target inhibition.Semiconductor quantum dots, whose particle sizes are in the nanometer range and emitfluorescence on excitation with a wide range of light source, have very unique properties andbecause of their size-dependent light-emitting properties, they considered as a new class offluorescent labels for chemical analysis and molecular imaging of biomedical diagnostics.Typically, each QD is consisted of 2-10,000 atoms with intense fluorescent properties afterexcitation. Quantum dots are usually made up of transition metal elements with a corestructure, possessing fluorometric function and the shell structure which gets involve instabilization, protection and functionalization of the core unit. The major advantages of QDsover organic dyes fluorophores rely in their large absorption coefficient across a widespectral range, high photostability and intense fluorescent emission and most importantly,their size- and composition-tunable emission from visible to infrared wavelengths.Accordingly, the QDs technology was one of the most promising candidates for apply incancer imaging field as follow: sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping, detecting primary tumorand metastasis, identifying molecular targets to aid targeted therapy. In the next 5-10 years,scientists predicted that the bio-research of QDs in cancer cells imaging will lead to sensitivecancer diagnosis and selective cancer therapy, especially, using QDs in metastasisevaluation and quantitative measurement of molecular targets. The fascinating speed,selectivity and sensitivity and the low assay cost makes the new diagnostic technique, anovel promising lab and field-suited approach for molecular diagnosis of cancer.

Keywords:

Quantum Dot , Photostability , Fluorescent , Sentinel Lymph Node , Metastasis