Immunolabeling and NIR-Excited Fluorescent Imaging of HeLa Cells by Using NaYF₄:Yb,Er Upconversion Nanoparticles

Upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles can convert a longer wavelength radiation (e.g., near-infrared light) into a shorter wavelength fluorescence (e.g., visible light) and thus have emerged as a new class of fluorescent probes for biomedical imaging. Rare-earth doped β-NaYF₄:Yb,Er upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with strong UC fluorescence were synthesized in this work by using a solvothermal approach. The UCNPs were coated with a thin layer of SiO₂ to form core−shell nanoparticles via a typical Stber method, which were further modified with amino groups. After surface functionalization, the rabbit anti-CEA8 antibodies were covalently linked to the UCNPs to form the antibody−UCNP conjugates. The antibody−UCNP conjugates were used as fluorescent biolabels for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a cancer biomarker expressed on the surface of HeLa cells. The successful conjugation of antibody to the UCNPs was found to lead to the specific attachment of the UCNPs onto the surface of the HeLa cells, which further resulted in the bright green UC fluorescence from the UCNP-labeled cells under 980 nm near-infrared (NIR) excitation and enabled the fluorescent imaging and detection of the HeLa cells. These results indicate that the amino-functionalized UCNPs can be used as fluorescent probes in cell immunolabeling and imaging. Because the UCNPs can be excited with a NIR light to exhibit strong visible fluorescence and the NIR light is safe to the body and can penetrate tissue as deep as several inches, our work suggests that, with proper cell-targeting or tumor-homing peptides or proteins conjugated, the NaYF₄:Yb,Er UCNPs can find potential applications in the in vivo imaging, detection, and diagnosis of cancers.