Bovine serum albumin encapsulation of near infrared fluorescent nano-probe with low nonspecificity and cytotoxicity for imaging of HER2-positive breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer with HER2 overexpressing type links to malignant tumor growth and poor clinical outcome. Successful development of sensitive and selective nano-probe for identification of HER2-positive breast cancer cells is of great importance for breast cancer early diagnosis, subtype classification, and treatment planning. Herein, we report a HER2 antibody conjugated near infrared (NIR) emitted MnCuInS/ZnS qumtun dots (QDs) encapsulated bovine serum albumin (BSA) nano-probe for accurately targeted imaging of HER2-positive breast cancer cells. This NIR nano-probe shows good biocompatibility, low nonspecificity and cytotoxicity, high colloidal stability, and allows HER2-positive breast cancer cell identification with good selectivity. The practicality of this targeted NIR fluorescent nano-probe was proved by successful identifying HER2-positive breast cancer cells from HER2-negative breast cancer cells, which indicates that it can be efficiently applied in selective screening of HER2 overexpressing cancer cells, and provide a platform for the strategy design on the distinction of different breast cancer subtypes.