Sticky-flares for in situ monitoring of human telomerase RNA in living cells

Nanoscale. 2018 May 17;10(19):9386-9392. doi: 10.1039/c8nr01260a.

Abstract

Human telomerase RNA (hTR), a template of telomerase for telomeric repeat synthesis, was used to reflect the telomerase activity and act as a potential target of antitumor therapy. Here, we report a novel DNA-conjugated AuNP probe termed sticky-flares for the in situ detection of intracellular human telomerase RNA. The sticky-flares probe is capable of entering living cells directly without any auxiliary and recognizing the binding domain of human telomerase RNA. On recognition, the fluorophore-modified recognition flares can specifically bind to the target, separate from the sticky-flares and act as a fluorescent reporter to quantify and dynamically profile human telomerase RNA in living cells. We envision that the sticky-flares probe would be a valuable platform to investigate the function and regulation of hTR in antitumor therapy and hTR-related drug invention.

MeSH terms

  • A549 Cells
  • DNA Probes*
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Gold*
  • Humans
  • KB Cells
  • Liposomes
  • Metal Nanoparticles*
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Antisense
  • RNA / analysis*
  • Telomerase / analysis*

Substances

  • DNA Probes
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Liposomes
  • Oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Antisense
  • telomerase RNA
  • RNA
  • Gold
  • Telomerase