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In vivo tumor imaging by a γ-glutamyl transpeptidase-activatable near-infrared fluorescent probe

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Abstract

γ-Glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), overexpressed in various cancer cells, has been perceived as a latent tumor biomarker. Thus, developing near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent GGT probes is highly desired for in vivo tumor imaging and studies. To our knowledge, however, such a GGT probe is still rare. Herein, we construct a new GGT-activatable NIR fluorescent probe HCAGlu by incorporating γ-glutamyl group as a recognition unit directly into a NIR hemicyanine fluorophore. HCAGlu exhibits a highly sensitive and selective NIR fluorescence off-on response to GGT. The probe has been applied to cell and histological section imaging, which demonstrates the ability of HCAGlu in distinguishing different GGT-expression levels in situ in biological samples. Notably, in vivo fluorescence imaging in tumor-bearing mice has been performed, verifying that probe HCAGlu can rapidly produce a distinct fluorescence signal in the tumor site via both intravenous and intratumoral injections. The simplicity and excellent performance of HCAGlu make it of high potential in studying the physiological function of GGT in vivo.

A near-infrared fluorescent probe for imaging γ-glutamyl transpeptidase in biological samples

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Funding

We are grateful for the financial support from the NSF of China (Nos. 21675159, 21621062, 21535009, and 21435007), the 973 Program (Nos. 2015CB932001 and 2015CB856301), the Chinese Academy of Science (XDB14030102), and Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS (2016027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Lihong Li, Wen Shi, Xiaofeng Wu, Xiaohua Li & Huimin Ma

  2. Department of Chemistry, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, Shanxi, China

    Lihong Li

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  1. Lihong Li
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  2. Wen Shi
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  3. Xiaofeng Wu
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  4. Xiaohua Li
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  5. Huimin Ma
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Correspondence to Wen Shi or Huimin Ma.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Research involving animals

All animal and tissue experiments are approved by the Beijing Association on Laboratory Animal Care and the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, and performed according to their guidelines.

Additional information

Published in the topical collection New Insights into Analytical Science in China with guest editors Lihua Zhang, Hua Cui, and Qiankun Zhuang.

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Li, L., Shi, W., Wu, X. et al. In vivo tumor imaging by a γ-glutamyl transpeptidase-activatable near-infrared fluorescent probe. Anal Bioanal Chem 410, 6771–6777 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1181-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1181-9

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