Red-emitting p53-protected gold nanoclusters and their screening of anti-tumor agents from Chinese medicine

Abstract

The tumor suppressor protein p53 has been a famous biomarker for many years both in biological and medical science. The core domain of it (residues 94–292) plays an important role for specific DNA binding. The involved 9 tyrosine and 9 cysteine residues provide the possibility to reduce and combine with gold to get metal nanoclusters such as BSA–AuNCs. In the present study, we develop a new method to synthesize red-emitting nanoclusters, p53–AuNCs, by using p53 core as both reductant and template. The synthetic procedure is one-step, straightforward and ecofriendly. In addition, the p53–AuNCs are found to be a sensitive fluorescence probe to detect and screen myricetin from Chinese medicine, providing a bridge between the kind of tumor-related protein and metallic nanoclusters. Particularly, these AuNCs are highly biocompatible as shown by cytotoxicity experiments and can be readily internalized by Hela cells, illustrating dual functions as a red-emitting material in bioimaging and a potential nanocarrier in drug delivery.