We report smart nanoprobe, hyaluronic acid (HA)-based nanoconta
iners conta
ining miR-34a beacons (bHNCs), for the
intracellular recognition of miR-34a levels
in metastatic breast cancer cells, which is dist
inct from the imag
ing of biomarkers such of cell membrane receptors such as HER2. In this study, we demonstrate that a nanoscale vesicle that couples a target
ing endocytic route, CD44, and a molecular imag
ing probe enables the efficient detection of specific miRNAs. Furthermore, bHNCs showed no cytotoxicity and high stability due to the anchored HA molecules on the surface of nanoconta
iners, and enables the targeted delivery of beacons
via CD44 receptor-mediated endocytosis.
In vitro and
in vivo optical imag
ing us
ing bHNCs also allow the measurement of miR-34a expression levels due to the selective recognition of the beacons released from the
internalized bHNCs. We believe that the technique described here
in can be further developed as a cancer diagnostic as well as a miRNA-based therapy of metastatic cancer.
Keywords:
miR-34a; molecular beacon; hyaluronic acid; iner&qsSearchArea=searchText">nanocontainer; intracellular+imaging&qsSearchArea=searchText">intracellular imaging