Simultaneous detection of intracellular tumor mRNA with bi-color imaging based on a gold nanoparticle/molecular beacon.

The successful treatment of most cancers depends on early detection. Tumor mRNA as a specific marker provides new avenues to monitor tumor progression in the early stages and assesses response to treatment. However, single tumor mRNA testing usually yields "false positive" results because cancer is associated with multiple tumor mRNA. It is indispensable to develop simple and effective approaches for the detection of multiple tumor mRNA. In this study, we used a combination of tumor-specific mRNA markers to avoid the inherent limitations associated with the single-marker technique. A gold nanoparticle (AuNP) was assembled with a bi-molecular beacon (bi-MB), and termed AuNP/bi-MB, which simultaneously targeted to two types of tumor mRNA in breast cancer cells. This imaging agent could prevent effectively false positive results and provide comprehensive and dependable information for the early detection of cancer. It would be beneficial to identify the stage of tumor progression and assess treatment decisions with the real-time detection of the relative expression levels of tumor mRNA in cancer cells. This strategy would offer an appealing approach toward the early detection of cancer by using multianalysis of tumor mRNA.