An Intracellular H₂O₂‐Responsive AIEgen for the Peroxidase‐Mediated Selective Imaging and Inhibition of Inflammatory Cells

Abstract

Inflammatory cells have gained widespread attention because inflammatory diseases increase the risk for many types of cancer. Therefore, it is urgent and important to implement detection and treatment methods for inflammatory cells. Herein, we constructed a theranostic probe with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics, in which tetraphenylethene (TPE) was modified with two tyrosine (Tyr) moieties. Owing to the H2O2‐dependent, enzyme‐catalyzed dityrosine formation, Tyr‐containing TPE (TT) molecules crosslink through dityrosine linkages to induce the formation of hydrophobic aggregates, activating the AIE process in inflammatory cells that contain H2O2 and overexpress myeloperoxidase. The emission turn‐on resulting from the crosslinking of TT molecules could be used to distinguish between inflammatory and normal cells. Moreover, the massive TT aggregates induced mitochondria damage and cell apoptosis. This study demonstrates that the H2O2‐responsive peroxidase‐activated AIEgen holds great promise for inflammatory‐cell selective imaging and inhibition.

Enzyme and AIEgens Modulated Solid‐State Nanochannels: In Situ and Noninvasive Monitoring of H2O2 Released from Living Cells

“…Next, the above solid‐state nanochannels were soaked into 500 µL HCl (2 m ) for 24 h to generate phenolic hydroxyl groups. In the following, our active AIEgen, TPE derivative (TT), was synthesized according to previous reported literature . TT consists of one AIEgen core TPE and two tyrosine groups.…”

Live Imaging and Quantitation of Lipid Droplets and Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Changes with Aggregation‐Induced Emission Luminogens in an in Vitro Model of Liver Steatosis

“…A unique luminogen type, known as aggregation‐induced emission luminogens (AIEgens), has been found to be nonluminescent when dissolved but highly fluorescent when aggregated. The term AIE is designated for this novel phenomenon in which restriction of intramolecular motion leads to radiative decay . Recently, AIEgens have been successfully applied in various biological and medical research applications such as dyes specifically labelling various subcellular organelles .…”

“…The term AIE is designated for this novel phenomenon in which restriction of intramolecular motion leads to radiative decay . Recently, AIEgens have been successfully applied in various biological and medical research applications such as dyes specifically labelling various subcellular organelles . Their high specificity, good photostability, and high biocompatibility make them suitable for live cell imaging and for investigating the dynamics of living cells in real time.…”

Fluorogenic Detection and Characterization of Proteins by Aggregation‐Induced Emission Methods

“…Through the detection of H 2 O 2 , the platform was further expanded to assess glucose concentration by using glucose oxidase, as well as the activity of glucose oxidase. The system works well intracellularly in inflammatory cells containing H 2 O 2 and overexpressing myeloperoxidase, in which Tyr‐containing TPE molecules cross‐link similarly to induce the formation of emissive aggregates . The method was used to differentiate inflammatory cells from normal cells.…”