Dual-Functional AIE Fluorescent Probe for Visualization of Lipid Droplets and Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer

Anal Chem. 2024 Apr 9;96(14):5615-5624. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c00227. Epub 2024 Mar 27.

Abstract

Abnormal lipid droplets (LDs) are known to be intimately bound with the occurrence and development of cancer, allowing LDs to be critical biomarkers for cancers. Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens), with efficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) production performance, are prime photosensitizers (PSs) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) with imaging. Therefore, the development of dual-functional fluorescent probes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics that enable both simultaneous LD monitoring and imaging-guided PDT is essential for concurrent cancer diagnosis and treatment. Herein, we reported the development of a novel LD-targeting fluorescent probe (TDTI) with AIE performance, which was expected to realize the integration of cancer diagnosis through LD visualization and cancer treatment via PDT. We demonstrated that TDTI, with typical AIE characteristics and excellent photostability, could target LDs with high specificity, which enables the dynamic tracking of LDs in living cells, specific imaging of LDs in zebrafish, and the differentiation of cancer cells from normal cells for cancer diagnosis. Meanwhile, TDTI exhibited fast ROS generation ability (achieving equilibrium within 60 s) under white light irradiation (10 mW/cm2). The cell apoptosis assay revealed that TDTI effectively induced growth inhibition and apoptosis of HeLa cells. Further, the results of PDT in vivo indicated that TDTI had a good antitumor effect on the tumor-bearing mice model. Collectively, these results highlight the potential utility of the dual-functional fluorescent probe TDTI in the integrated diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Lipid Droplets / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Neoplasms* / diagnostic imaging
  • Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Photochemotherapy* / methods
  • Photosensitizing Agents / pharmacology
  • Photosensitizing Agents / therapeutic use
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Zebrafish / metabolism

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Photosensitizing Agents