Noninvasive NIR Imaging of Senescence via In Situ Labeling

J Med Chem. 2021 Dec 23;64(24):17969-17978. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01313. Epub 2021 Nov 9.

Abstract

Cellular senescence, a process that arrests the cell cycle, is a cellular response mechanism for various stresses and is implicated in aging and various age-related diseases. However, the understanding of senescence in living organisms is insufficient, largely due to the scarcity of sensitive tools for the detection of cellular senescence in vivo. Herein, we describe the development of a self-immobilizing near-infrared (NIR) fluorogenic probe that can be activated by senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal), the most widely used senescence marker. The NIR signal is turned on only in the presence of SA-β-Gal, and the fluorescence signal is retained to the site of activation via in situ labeling, significantly enhancing the sensitivity of the probe. We demonstrate its efficient noninvasive imaging of senescence in mice xenograft models.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cellular Senescence*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Heterografts
  • Mice
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / methods*
  • beta-Galactosidase / chemistry

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • beta-Galactosidase