γ-Glutamyltransferase-Activatable Fluoro-Photoacoustic Reporter for Highly Sensitive Diagnosis of Acute Liver Injury and Tumor

gamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT) has been recognized as an important clinical biomarker that is closely related to many diseases. Visualizing the GGT fluctuation facilitates early disease-related diagnosis and therapy. Herein, an activated probe (NIR-GGT) for the imaging of GGT activity was prepared. The probe consists of a stable NIR fluorophore with the tunable amino group decorated with the gamma-glutamate group as a GGT-sensing unit linked by a self-elimination group. NIR-GGT can sensitively recognize GGT and cause a strong turn-on fluorescent and photoacoustic signal. The up-regulation of the GGT expression in acetamino-phen-induced acute liver injury was imaged using NIR-GGT. The probe can track changes in the GGT level in the early stages of drug-induced acute liver injury (DIALI) and its remedy process by fluorescent and photoacoustic dual-modality imaging with a high temporal-spatial resolution. NIR-GGT can also be used to differentiate between tumor and para-carcinowa tissues in vivo. The probe may be a potential tool for the diagnosis of early-stage DIALI and accurate tumor resection in the clinical field.

Automated summary

Gamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT) is an important clinical biomarker associated with many diseases. A probe called NIR-GGT has been developed for imaging GGT activity. This probe can sensitively detect GGT and generate a strong fluorescent and photoacoustic signal. It can track changes in GGT level during early drug-induced acute liver injury (DIALI) and tumor resection with high temporal-spatial resolution.