In this study, we report quantum dots (QDs)-crosslinked light-guiding hydrogels, which are used to detect folate receptor (FR)-overexpressed cancer cells. The QDs are modified by folic acid (FA). In order to avoid fluorescence quenching, the covalent bond is used to cross-link FA modified QDs (FA-QDs) with hydrogels. The fluorescence stability of the prepared FA-QDs-doped light-guiding hydrogels (FQLH) is outstanding. Cancer cells with overexpression of FR (breast cancer cells, MCF-7; cervical cancer cells, HeLa), cancer cells without expression of FR (lung cancer cells, A549), and normal cells (mouse embryonic fibroblast, 3T3) are used to test the sensing characteristics of FQLH. After FQLH is inserted into the MCF-7 solution, the fluorescence intensity increases linearly with time, and the result of the HeLa solution is similar. But there is no similar response into the A549 solution or 3T3 solution, which shows that FQLH can effectively and specifically detect FR-overexpressed cancer cells. Simultaneously, the MCF-7 as an example is studied in detail. The results show that the concentration of MCF-7 can be measured based on the rate of increased fluorescence intensity. The minimum detection concentration is 1.0 × 10⁴/mL. Moreover, detection of other cancer cells can be achieved by doping the hydrogels with the corresponding targeted modified QDs. In addition, the prepared FQLH has excellent mechanical and light-guiding performance (loss is less than 0.0165 dB/mm), and it is promised to be implanted into the human body to achieve real-time detection in vivo，which shows a great potential in cancer detection and therapy.

在这项研究中，我们报告了量子点 (QD) 交联光导水凝胶，其用于检测叶酸受体 (FR) 过表达的癌细胞。量子点由叶酸 (FA) 修饰。为了避免荧光猝灭，共价键用于将 FA 修饰的 QD (FA-QD) 与水凝胶交联。制备的 FA-QDs 掺杂的光导水凝胶 (FQLH) 的荧光稳定性非常出色。FR过度表达的癌细胞（乳腺癌细胞，MCF-7；宫颈癌细胞，HeLa）、不表达FR的癌细胞（肺癌细胞，A549）和正常细胞（小鼠胚胎成纤维细胞，3T3）用于测试FQLH 的传感特性。FQLH插入MCF-7溶液后，荧光强度随时间线性增加，与HeLa溶液结果相似。但是在A549溶液或3T3溶液中没有类似的反应，这表明FQLH可以有效且特异性地检测FR过表达的癌细胞。同时，以MCF-7为例进行了详细研究。结果表明，可以基于荧光强度增加的速率来测量MCF-7的浓度。最低检测浓度为 1.0 × 10⁴ /毫升。此外，可以通过用相应的靶向修饰量子点掺杂水凝胶来检测其他癌细胞。此外，制备的FQLH具有优异的机械和导光性能（损耗小于0.0165 dB/mm），有望植入人体实现体内实时检测，显示出巨大的潜力在癌症检测和治疗方面。