RESUMO
Objective:To develop a biotin-streptavidin system (BAS)-mediated folate receptor (FR)-targeted quantum dot (QD) fluorescent probe and preliminarily validate the targeting ability and signal amplification effect of the probe. Methods: Streptavidin (SA) was covalently coupled with QD through the active ester method;the physical characteristics of the prepared QD-SA were veri-fied. Biotinylated folate was synthesized through the carrier bovine serum albumin using the same method and then reacted with QD-SA to form the special probe. The probe was used to identify SKOV3 cells and FR-negative A549 cells to verify its targeting speci-ficity. QD-SA was used as the contrast. SKOV3 cells were imaged using the BAS-mediated FR-targeted QD probe with a biotinylated folate incubation time of 1 or 4 h. Various reaction times were also tested between the probe and the QD-FA that was formed without BAS mediation. Results:The BAS-mediated FR-targeted QD probe specifically recognized FR-positive SKOV3 cells. The probe ob-tained higher fluorescent intensity after 4 h than after 1 h of biotinylated folate incubation. The BAS-mediated FR-targeted QD probe al-so had a stronger fluorescent signal than the QD-FA probe. Conclusion:The proposed probe presents a great potential in the early diag-nosis of ovarian cancer because of its high specificity and sensitivity.