Novel Water-Soluble Far-Red Nitroreductase-Responsive Bodipy-Based Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Hypoxic Status in A549 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Abstract

<jats:p>Over expression of nitroreductase (NTR) enzymes is closely related to the hypoxic status in living organisms for which molecular oxygen is vital. The development of effective methods for real-time monitoring of NTR activity is of great significance for medical diagnosis and cancer research. Here, we present a novel water-soluble Bodipy-based chemodosimeter (NBB) effective in imaging the hypoxic status of human non-small-cell lung cancer A549 cells. We assumed that NTR-mediated activation of the probe NBB is based on the reductive release of meso-phenol Bodipy dye to finally produce unusual fluorescence "ON-OFF" response.</jats:p>

Small Molecule Fluorescent Probes for Sensing and Bioimaging of Nitroreductase

“…Gorbatov and coworkers developed a water‐soluble BODIPY‐based probe 13 , which is effective in imaging hypoxia in A549 cancer cells [51] . In probe 13 , the meso‐ phenol moiety of tris ‐phenol distyryl Bodipy scaffold was protected with p ‐nitro benzyloxycarbonyl group, which acted as a recognition moiety for NTR.…”