Near-infrared fluorescent sorbitol probe for tumor diagnosis in vivo

This study evaluated the near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe Sorbitol-ZW800-1 as tracer for targeted tumor imaging of multiple cancer types. Preliminarily, Sorbitol-ZW800-1 conjugate was validated in vivo on breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines. Subsequently, the tracer was tested in xenograft mouse models with malignant breast (MDA-MB-231), lung (NCI-H460), and colorectal (HT-29) tumors, respectively. Importantly, the Sorbitol-ZW800-1 conjugate showed highly selective tumor uptake in various tumor mice models. Moreover, biodistribution for 24 h exhibited the significant fluorescence signals in tumors and kidneys. Therefore, sorbitol is a promising candidate as a potential cancer targeting agent for the accurate detection of cancer cells. (C) 2018 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.