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Functionalized fluorescent carbon nanostructures for targeted imaging of cancer cells: a review

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Abstract

This short review (with 72 refs.) summarizes the state of the art in fluorometric methods for targeted imaging of cancer cells and tumor tissues in order to differentiate between normal cells and cancer cells. Following an introduction into the field and after presenting an overview on the most commonly used carbon dots and graphene quantum dots, we describe methods based on peptide based targeting, aptamer based targeting, antibody based targeting, and ligand-based targeting. A concluding section summarizes the current state and challenges, and discusses future perspectives.

An overview is given on the applications of carbon dots (CDs) in target-specific imaging and differentiation of cancerous cells from normal cells. Several classes of ligands (including aptamers, peptides, antibodies), especially small molecules (such as FA)) have been reported for functionalizing of CDs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Research Council of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (Grant Number: 96386) for the financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, 67198-51351, Iran

    Meghdad Pirsaheb & Somayeh Mohammadi

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, 66177-15175, Iran

    Abdollah Salimi

  3. Research Center for Nanotechnology, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, 66177-15175, Iran

    Abdollah Salimi

  4. Regenerative Medicine Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, 67148-69914, Iran

    Mehrdad Payandeh

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  1. Meghdad Pirsaheb
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Correspondence to Somayeh Mohammadi.

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Pirsaheb, M., Mohammadi, S., Salimi, A. et al. Functionalized fluorescent carbon nanostructures for targeted imaging of cancer cells: a review. Microchim Acta 186, 231 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3338-4

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