Semiconductor quantum dots(QDs) were used for labeling many biomacromolecules and small molecules,but it remains a challenge to couple it with short active peptides without any limitation,which play critical roles in many physiological processes.Several coupling methods known about QDs and short peptides have some limitations.In this research,we report a method for the synthesis of QDs labeled peptides to be appropriate to any short peptide.The QDs(CdTe)-labeled short peptides were verified and characterized by RP-HPLC.The result shows that the surface of the T cell treated with QDs-TP5 emits yellow fluoresence.These results indicate that QDs-TP5 tends to aggregate on the surface of T cells.They were applied to monitoring the specific binding between the immune peptides and T cell surface receptors.The binding and the resultant fluorescence were observed and monitored by fluorescence microscope in vitro.The QDs-labeled immune peptides provide a powerful method for studying the immune modulating activity of TP5 in vivo.
