Hypoxia-Activated Fluorescent Probe Based on Self-Immolative Block Copolymer

This work reports a hypoxia-activated fluorescent probe for tumor imaging by using self-immolative block copolymer with azobenzene linkage. The water-soluble polymer composed of self-immolative building blocks shows no obvious fluorescence. Under the hypoxic microenvironment of tumor cells, the azobenzene is reduced by the overexpressed azoreductase, which will trigger a domino-like disassembly of the self-immolative polymer. The released building blocks from the self-immolative polymer emit strong fluorescence, which shows the potential application in tumor imaging.

Automated summary

This work presents a hypoxia-activated fluorescent probe for tumor imaging, which utilizes a self-immolative block copolymer with an azobenzene linkage. The probe shows no fluorescence until it encounters the hypoxic microenvironment of tumor cells, where the azobenzene is reduced by overexpressed azoreductase, leading to the disassembly of the self-immolative polymer and the emission of strong fluorescence, demonstrating its potential application in tumor imaging.