Construction of an Endogenously Activated Signal Amplification Assay for In Situ Imaging of MicroRNA and Guided Precise Photodynamic Therapy for Cancer Cells

The construction of a sensitive strategy for in situ visualizing and dynamic tracing intracellular microRNA is of great importance. Via the toehold-mediated strand displacement process, the catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) could offer several hundreds-fold signal amplifications. However, the CHA may produce certain background interferences since microRNA may exist in normal cells. In this work, we constructed an endogenously and sequentially activated signal amplification strategy to provide the amplified dual color fluorescence imaging of microRNA in living cancer cells, which was comprised of two successive reaction processes: the activation of the preprotective catalytic probe by the endogenous glutathione (GSH) and the subsequent catalytic hairpin assembly on the surface of the upconversion nanoprobe triggered by the specific microRNA. Since the concentration of GSH in cancer cells was much higher than that in normal cells and the extracellular environment, the activation of the designed nanoprobe could be controlled at the desirable site. With the merits of the endogenous initiation and selective activation, the designed nanoprobe could achieve the bioimaging of microRNA in living cancer cells with high precision and reliability. Furthermore, via the introduction of a photosensitizer molecule into the DNA strand, the designed nanoplatform could achieve the precise photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer cells and malignant tumors under the irradiation of the NIR laser. This work provided a new avenue to achieve the accurate imaging of intracellular microRNA and guided precise PDT, which would offer powerful hints to the early diagnosis and therapy of malignant tumors.

Automated summary

In this study, an endogenously and sequentially activated signal amplification strategy was constructed to achieve dual color fluorescence imaging of microRNA in living cancer cells. The designed nanoprobe could achieve high precision and reliability for microRNA bioimaging in cancer cells.