Glutathione and tyrosinase Co-activated near-infrared fluorescent probes for precise detection of melanoma

Abstract

Melanoma is a highly aggressive malignant tumor, and precise diagnosis is essential but remains to be explored. Making full use of the widespread correlation biomarker in melanoma to develop the dual-locked NIR fluorescence probe is of great importance for the accurate diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. Herein, we proposed a novel dual-locked NIR fluorescent probe Cy-Dual by utilizing two interrelated characteristic biomarkers of melanoma. Cy-Dual remained fluorescent off in normal cells, yet turn on remarkable NIR fluorescence after the co-activation of two melanoma-associated markers, namely, glutathione and tyrosinase. In-depth cell bioimaging results indicate that Cy-Dual allows highly specific imaging of melanoma cells, making it a powerful tool for accurately detecting melanomas. More impressively, such co-activated probe further enables the real-time imaging diagnosis of melanoma in vivo utilizing a xenograft tumor-bearing mice model. This study provides a non-invasive imaging technique for melanoma, which facilitates advancements in precision medicine related to melanoma.