In Vitro Cellular Uptake Studies of Self-Assembled Fluorinated Nanoparticles Labelled with Antibodies

Nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with antibodies (Abs) on their surface are used in a wide range of bioapplications. Whereas the attachment of antibodies to single NPs to trigger the internalization in cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis has been widely studied, the conjugation of antibodies to larger NP assemblies has been much less explored. Taking into account that NP assemblies may be advantageous for some specific applications, the possibility of incorporating targeting ligands is quite important. Herein, we performed the effective conjugation of antibodies onto a fluorescent NP assembly, which consisted of fluorinated Quantum Dots (QD) self-assembled through fluorine–fluorine hydrophobic interactions. Cellular uptake studies by confocal microscopy and flow cytometry revealed that the NP assembly underwent the same uptake procedure as individual NPs; that is, the antibodies retained their targeting ability once attached to the nanoassembly, and the NP assembly preserved its intrinsic properties (i.e., fluorescence in the case of QD nanoassembly).