Imaging of ovarian cancers using enzyme activatable probes with second near-infrared window emission.

We herein develop two β-galactosidase (β-Gal) activatable NIR fluorescent probes for visualizing ovarian cancers. Particularly, probe BOD-M-βGal produced NIR-II emission light at 900-1300 nm upon β-Gal activation. By using our activatable and target specific NIR-II probe for deep-tissue imaging of β-Gal overexpressed ovarian cancer cells, rapid and accurate imaging of ovarian tumors in nude mice was achieved.