Lactose as a "trojan horse" for quantum dot cell transport

Abstract

A series of glycan-coated quantum dots were prepared to probe the effect of glycan presentation in intracellular localization in HeLa and SV40 epithelial cells. We show that glycan density mostly impacts on cell toxicity, whereas glycan type affects the cell uptake and intracellular localization. Moreover, we show that lactose can act as a "Trojan horse" on bi-functionalized QDs to help intracellular delivery of other non-internalizable glycan moieties and largely avoid the endosomal/lysosomal degradative pathway. With a spoonful of sugar. Glycan-coated quantum dots were used to probe the effect of glycan presentation in intracellular localization in HeLa and SV40 epithelial cells. Glycan density was found to mostly impact cell toxicity, whereas glycan type affects cell uptake and intracellular localization. Also, lactose was found to help the intracellular delivery of other non-internalizable glycan moieties. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.