Quantum dots encapsulated with amphiphilic alginate as bioprobe for fast screening anti-dengue virus agents

The increasing threats of viral diseases have gained worldwide attention in recent years. Quite a few infectious diseases are still lacking effective prevention or treatment. The pace of developing antiviral agents could be expedited by the availability of quick and efficient drug screening platforms. In this study, quantum dot (QD), an emerging probe for biological imaging and medical diagnostics, was employed to form complexes with virus and used as fluorescent imaging probes for exploring potential antiviral therapeutics. Inorganic CdSe/ZnS QDs synthesized in organic phase were encapsulated by amphiphilic alginate to attain biocompatible water-soluble QDs via phase transfer. Virus employed for this study was dengue virus which is a notorious one in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. To construct a QD–virus imaging modality capable of providing meaningful information, preservation of viral infectivity after tagging virus with QDs is of utmost importance. In order to form colloidal complexes of QD–virus, electrostatic repulsion force generated from both negatively charged virus and QDs was neutralized by various concentrations of cationic polybrene. Results showed that BHK-21 cells infected with dengue viruses incorporated with QDs exhibited bright fluorescence intracellularly within 30 min. To demonstrate the potency of QD–virus complexes as bioprobes for screening antiviral agents, BHK-21 cells were incubated for one hour with allophycocyanin purified from blue-green algae and then infected with QD–virus complexes. Based on the developed cell-based imaging assay, allophycocyanin with concentration of 125 μg/mL led to extremely weak intracellular fluorescence post-infection of QD–virus complexes for 30 min. That is, the efficacy of anti-dengue viral activity of the algae extract was clearly illustrated by the inorganic–organic hybrid platform constructed in current study.