College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, Shandong, P. R. China.
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, Hunan, P. R. China.
ACS Sens. 2023 May 26;8(5):2021-2029. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.3c00201. Epub 2023 May 11.
Sulfatase is an important biomarker closely associated with various diseases. However, the state-of-the-art sulfatase probes are plagued with a short absorption/emission wavelength and limited sensitivity. Developing highly sensitive fluorescent probes for in vivo imaging of sulfatase remains a grand challenge. Herein, for the first time, an activatable near-infrared fluorescence/photoacoustic (NIRF/PA) dual-modal probe (Hcy-SA) for visualizing sulfatase activity in living cells and animals is developed. Hcy-SA is composed of a sulfate ester moiety as the recognition unit and a NIR fluorophore hemicyanine (Hcy-OH) as the NIRF/PA reporter. The designed probe exhibits a rapid response, excellent sensitivity, and high specificity for sulfatase detection in vitro. More importantly, cells and in vivo experiments confirm that Hcy-SA can be successfully applied for PA/NIRF dual-modal imaging of sulfatase activity in living sulfatase-overexpressed tumor cells and tumor-bearing animals. This probe can serve as a promising tool for sulfatase-related pathological research and cancer diagnosis.
硫酸酯酶是一种与多种疾病密切相关的重要生物标志物。然而，现有的硫酸酯酶探针存在吸收/发射波长短和灵敏度有限的问题。因此，开发用于体内硫酸酯酶成像的高灵敏度荧光探针仍然是一个巨大的挑战。本文首次开发了一种用于在活细胞和动物中可视化硫酸酯酶活性的双模式近红外荧光/光声（NIRF/PA）探针（Hcy-SA）。Hcy-SA 由硫酸酯部分作为识别单元和近红外荧光团半花菁（Hcy-OH）作为 NIRF/PA 报告基团组成。该设计的探针在体外对硫酸酯酶的检测具有快速响应、优异的灵敏度和高特异性。更重要的是，细胞和体内实验证实，Hcy-SA 可成功应用于活的过表达硫酸酯酶的肿瘤细胞和荷瘤动物中硫酸酯酶活性的 PA/NIRF 双模式成像。该探针可作为硫酸酯酶相关病理研究和癌症诊断的一种有前途的工具。
