2. Academic Validation
  3. NQO-1 Enzyme-Activated NIR Theranostic Agent for Pancreatic Cancer

NQO-1 Enzyme-Activated NIR Theranostic Agent for Pancreatic Cancer

  • Anal Chem. 2022 Aug 16;94(32):11159-11167. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01189.
Bo Peng 1 2,  Gang Chen 3 4,  Yahui Li 1,  Hao Zhang 5,  Jianliang Shen 1 2 6,  Ji-Ting Hou 1,  Zhipeng Li 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Ophthalmology & Optometry, School of Biomedical Engineering, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325035, China.
  • 2 Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou 325000, China.
  • 3 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325005, China.
  • 4 Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Hepato-Pancreatic Diseases of Zhejiang Province, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325005, China.
  • 5 Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise 533000, China.
  • 6 Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), Wenzhou 325001, China.
PMID: 35916489 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01189
Abstract

Pancreatic Cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, which is usually diagnosed in the advanced stage and is highly resistant to traditional chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing new PC-specific imaging and treatment. In this study, an quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1)-activated near-infrared (NIR) agent, ICy-Q, was synthesized. ICy-Q is almost nonemissive, while its NIR emission at 705 nm is triggered by NQO-1-induced reduction in the PC cells. In addition, the reduction product, ICy-OH, is specifically enriched in mitochondria and lysosomes and acts as an effective chemotherapeutic agent to selectively induce pancreatic Cancer cell death via the cell Pyroptosis pathway. Further studies have shown that ICy-Q is suitable for ex vivo imaging of clinical PC sections and solid tumors from patients. We expect this study will be helpful in the future for the design of targeted theranostic agents for PC.

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