Specific Near-Infrared Probe for Ultrafast Imaging of Lysosomal β-Galactosidase in Ovarian Cancer Cells
Xueqi Li, Yutong Pan, Huan Chen, Yukun Duan, Shiwei Zhou, Wenbo Wu, Shaowei Wang, Bin Liu
Abstract
Reactivity based fluorescent probes have been widely investigated as a powerful and noninvasive tool for disease diagnosis in recent years. β-Galactosidase (β-gal), one of the typical lysosomal glycosidases, is reported to be a vital biomarker overexpressed in primary ovarian cancer cells. Fluorescent probes with excellent performance for endogenous β-gal detection offer a unique option for visualization and diagnosis of primary ovarian cancer cells. Herein, a near-infrared fluorescent probe Lyso-Gal with lysosome-targeting ability was developed for lysosomal β-gal detection and imaging in ovarian cancer cells (SKOV-3 cells). Lyso-Gal exhibits weak fluorescence in aqueous solution but emits bright NIR fluorescence at 725 nm after incubation with β-gal. Highly selective imaging of ovarian cancer cells has been achieved upon incubation with Lyso-Gal for only 1 min. The detection time is extremely short. In comparison with a similar hemicyanine probe, Hx-Gal, without lysosome-targeting ability, Lyso-Gal realizes endogenous β-gal visualization in lysosomes and shows brighter fluorescence than Hx-Gal in SKOV-3 cells. This work demonstrates the potential of Lyso-Gal for detection of primary ovarian cancer cells by using β-gal as the biomarker.