A Study On The Expression Of Integrin AV/B3in HNSCC Tumor Angiogenic Vessel Endothelial Cells And The Specific Binding Of RGD Peptide Conjugated Near-infrared Quantum Dots To Integrin AV/B3in Vitro

Objective: To observe the expression of integrin αvβ3in HNSCC（Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma）tumor angiogenic vesselendothelial cells and the specific binding of RGD(arginine-glycine-aspartic acid peptide) conjugated near-infraredquantum dots to integrin αvβ3in vitro.Methods: RGD peptide was conjugated with QD800,QDs with anemission wavelength of800nm, to generate QD800-RGD. After theestablishment of HNSCC nude model, the immunohistochemistryexperiments were made to verify the expression of integrin αvβ3onBcaCD885tumor angiogenesis endothelial cells. The QD800-RGD probeswere used in labeling the frozen sections of HNSCC tumors in vitro by directimmunofluorescence.The binding of QD800-RGD to integrin αvβ3wasevaluated under a laser scanning confocal microscope.Results: The concentration of prepared QD800-RGD was calculated to be1.2μM.Under the transmission electron microscope, QD800-RGD waswell dispersed into single particles. The integrin αvβ3was highly expressedon HNSCC tumor angiogenic vessel endothelial cells. QD800-RGD canspecifically bind to integrin αvβ3expressed in HNSCC tumor angiogenicvessel endothelial cells.Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that integrin αvβ3was highlyexpressed on HNSCC tumor angiogenic vessel endothelial cells. RGDconjugated near-infrared QDs can specifically bind to integrin αvβ3expressed in HNSCC tumor angiogenic vessel endothelial cells in vitro. Ourstudy provides scientific bases for the application of RGD conjugatednear-infrared QDs in visualization in vivo imaging for HNSCC.