In Situ Generated Novel 1H MRI Reporter for β-Galactosidase Activity Detection and Visualization in Living Tumor Cells.

Abstract

For wide applications of the lacZ gene in cellular/molecular biology, small animal investigations, and clinical assessments, the improvement of noninvasive imaging approaches to precisely assay gene expression has garnered much attention. In this study, we investigate a novel molecular platform in which alizarin 2-O-β-d-galactopyranoside AZ-1 acts as a lacZ gene/β-gal responsive 1H-MRI probe to induce significant 1H-MRI contrast changes in relaxation times T 1 and T 2 in situ as a concerted effect for the discovery of β-gal activity with the exposure of Fe3+. We also demonstrate the capability of this strategy for detecting β-gal activity with lacZ-transfected human MCF7 breast and PC3 prostate cancer cells by reaction-enhanced 1H-MRI T 1 and T 2 relaxation mapping.

• Authors: Shuo Gao, Lei Zhao, Zhiqiang Fan, Vikram D Kodibagkar, Li Liu, Hanqin Wang, Hong Xu, Mingli Tu, Bifu Hu, Chuanbin Cao, Zhenjian Zhang, Jian-Xin Yu
• Journal: Frontiers in chemistry (Front Chem) Vol. 9 Pg. 709581 ( 2021) ISSN: 2296-2646 [Print] Switzerland
• PMID: 34336792 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2021 Gao, Zhao, Fan, Kodibagkar, Liu, Wang, Xu, Tu, Hu, Cao, Zhang and Yu.