Gold Nanocluster-Based Fluorometric Banoxantrone Assay Enabled by Photoinduced Electron Transfer
Kai-Yuan Huang,
Wen-Hui Weng,
Xin Huang,
Hong-Xiang Huang,
Hamada A. A. Noreldeen,
Hao-Hua Deng,
Wei Chen
Affiliations
Kai-Yuan Huang
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Wen-Hui Weng
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Xin Huang
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Hong-Xiang Huang
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Hamada A. A. Noreldeen
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Hao-Hua Deng
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Wei Chen
Fujian Key Laboratory of Drug Target Discovery and Structural and Functional Research, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350004, China
Monitoring the blood concentration of banoxantrone (AQ4N) is important to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and side effects of this new anticancer prodrug during its clinical applications. Herein, we report a fluorescence method for AQ4N detection through the modulation of the molecule-like photoinduced electron transfer (PET) behavior of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs). AQ4N can electrostatically bind to the surface of carboxylated chitosan (CC) and dithiothreitol (DTT) co-stabilized AuNCs and quench their fluorescence via a Coulomb interaction-accelerated PET process. Under optimized experimental conditions, the linear range of AQ4N is from 25 to 200 nM and the limit of detection is as low as 5 nM. In addition, this assay is confirmed to be reliable based on its successful use in AQ4N determination in mouse plasma samples. This work offers an effective strategy for AQ4N sensing based on fluorescent AuNCs and widens the application of AuNCs in clinical diagnosis and pharmaceutical analysis.
