Preliminary Study on the Modification of Quantum Dots/Geothermal Silica Nanocomposites with Breast Cancer Antibody (MUC-1)

In this research, a silica-based nanosensor is synthesized using the sol-gel method and subsequently modified with quantum dots and MUC-1 antibody to detect MCF7, a cell line commonly found in breast cancer. Synthesis of silica nanoparticles was conducted through the sol-gel process using NaOH and HCl. The characterization using surface area analysis shows that geothermal silica based nanoparticles exhibit specific size of 31.2 nm with specific surface area of 192.37 m2/g. The nanoparticles were then modified using Cd-based Carboxyl Quantum dots to give fluorescence properties, obtaining SiNP@QD. Characterization was performed using UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy to understand the photostability of nanoparticles in PBS buffer in various concentrations. The fluorescent nanoparticles were then immobilized with MUC-1 antibody and the successful conjugation was confirmed with FTIR showing peaks at 1548 and 1637 cm-1 corresponding to the amide I and amide II stretching vibration, respectively. The MUC-1 antibody modified silica nanoparticles is potential to be applied as nanosensor for the optical detection of MCF-7 cell line as one of breast cancer biomarkers.