A Turn Off Fluorescence Probe Based on Carbon Dots for Highly Sensitive Detection of BRCA1 Gene in Real Samples and Cellular Imaging

In this research, DNA-modified carbon dots (CDs) were exploited to construct a fluorescence assay for breast cancer genes (BRCA1, a potential marker for cancer diagnosis) detection. For this purpose, water-soluble synthesized CDs were functionalized with 19 mer-modified oligonucleotides (capture probe). By adding the DNA target, the specific binding between the DNA probe and DNA target causes fluorescence quenching. The assay displayed a fine capability of sensing the BRCA1 gene with a linear range (R2 = 0.9918) of 36 attomolar (aM) to 532 femtomolar (fM) and a detection limit of 2 attomolar. This homogeneous process does not need additional separation and washing steps of un-hybridized DNA. To assess the selectivity, the prepared biosensor responses were evaluated in solutions containing single-base mismatched DNA sequences, three-base mismatched DNA sequences, or non-complementary DNA sequences, separately. To demonstrate the practical application of the designed biosensor, the extracted DNA from blood samples of breast cancer patients was utilized as real samples. When the CDs-DNA bioassay was exploited in the imaging of MCF-7 cancer cells, strong fluorescence emission was observed. After incubation times, both the cells’ size and shape remained unchanged. The results validated that the CDs are an extremely great bioimaging candidate in disease diagnosis, biomedicine investigation, and managing cancer diseases.