Active U11 Peptide Luminescent Gold Nanoclusters for Pancreatic Tumor Cell Targeting

The imaging of different intercellular regions is attracting growing interest in the fields of biosensing, drug delivery, and gene therapy for cancer treatment. We present the synthesis of luminescent gold nanoclusters (AuNCs), grafted with a PEGylated U11 peptide derivative, for tumor recognition and their capacity to label the nucleus of pancreatic cancer cells. The short peptide named C3E6U11, used to synthesize and functionalize gold nanoclusters, is composed of a tricysteine sequence with side-chain thiol residues as peptide anchors for the Au nanoclusters together with the recognition peptide domain (U11). The active targeting red- or blue-emitting AuNCs can label pancreatic cancer cells and localize preferentially in the nucleus. The presence of U11 at their surface facilitates their penetration into pancreatic cell nuclei. Finally, in vivo imaging experiments in early embryos and free-swimming juvenile zebrafish are also performed to evaluate their biodistribution.