CD44 Antibody-Conjugated Gold Nanostars as SERS Probes for Distinguishing Cancer Cells (A549 Cells, H1229 Cells) from Normal Cells (ATII Cells)

Abstract

In this paper, we report a novel antibody conjugated gold nanostars ( AuNSs ) as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) probes for distinguishing cancer cells (A549 cells, H1229 cells) from normal cells (ATII cells). In such a probe, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was served as the protective agent and stabilizing agent, 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) was used as the Raman reporter to generate SERS signals as well as the conjugation agent for attaching CD44 antibody (anti-CD44) molecules to AuNSs , where anti-CD44 could effectively target to CD44 protein over-expressed cells. All the results of the experiments confirmed that more SERS probes have been targeted to cancer cells (A549 cells and H1229 cells) than that of normal cells (ATII cells) under the same condition. The anti-CD44 SERS probes hold a potential application in distinguishing cancer cells from normal cells with high sensitivity and good biocompatibility.