[Preparation and characterization of quantum dots-peptides bioconjugations and their specificity related to...

Water-soluble CdTe quantum dots synthesized in aqueous solution have been conjugated with peptide LyP-1 using N-Succinimidyl 3-[2-pyridyldithio]-propionate (SPDP) as a cross-linking reagent. Capillary electrophoresis (CE), UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescent (PL) spectra suggested that the peptide had been successfully linked to the QDs. The QDs-peptides conjugates could specifically recognize the lung adenoma cancer cells (SPCA-1), but did not recognize promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60).