Synthesis and Application of a Near-Infrared Light-Emitting Fluorescent Probe for Specific Imaging of Cancer Cells with High Sensitivity and Selectivity.

Background: The preclinical diagnosis of tumors is of great significance to cancer treatment. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging technology is promising for the in-situ detection of tumors with high sensitivity.
Methods: Here, a fluorescent probe was synthesized on the basis of Au nanoclusters with near-infrared light emission and applied to fluorescent cancer cell labeling. Near-infrared methionine-N-Hydroxy succinimide Au nanoclusters (Met-NHs-AuNCs) were prepared successfully by one-pot synthesis using Au nanoclusters, methionine, and N-Hydroxy succinimide as frameworks, reductants, and stabilizers, respectively. The specific fluorescence imaging of tumor cells or tissues by fluorescent probe was studied on the basis of SYBYL Surflex-DOCK simulation model of LAT1 active site of overexpressed receptor on cancer cell surface. The results showed that Met-NHs-AuNCs interacted with the surface of LAT1, and C_Score scored the conformation of the probe and LAT1 as five.
Results: Characterization and in vitro experiments were conducted to explore the Met-NHs-AuNCs targeted uptake of cancer cells. The prepared near-infrared fluorescent probe (Met-NHs-AuNCs) can specifically recognize the overexpression of L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) in cancer cells so that it can show red fluorescence in cancer cells. Meanwhile, normal cells (H9c2) have no fluorescence.
Conclusion: The fluorescent probe demonstrates the power of targeting and imaging cancer cells.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(© 2024 Li et al.)