AUTHOR=Gao Shuo , Zhao Lei , Fan Zhiqiang , Kodibagkar Vikram D. , Liu Li , Wang Hanqin , Xu Hong , Tu Mingli , Hu Bifu , Cao Chuanbin , Zhang Zhenjian , Yu Jian-Xin 

TITLE=In Situ Generated Novel 1H MRI Reporter for β-Galactosidase Activity Detection and Visualization in Living Tumor Cells

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.709581

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.709581

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=For wide applications of lacZ gene in cellular/molecular biology, small animal investigations, and clinical trials, the development of non-invasive imaging approaches for better reliability, precision and accuracy to assay gene expression has attracted much attention. We now report a novel molecular platform, in which alizarin 2-O-β-D-galactopyranoside AZ-1 works as a lacZ gene/β-gal 1H MRI reporter to responsively and specifically generate significant 1H-MRI contrast changes in relaxation times T1 and T2 in situ as a concerted effect for detection of β-gal activity with the presence of Fe3+. We also demonstrate the feasibility of this strategy for assessing β-gal activity in solution and in vitro with lacZ transfected human MCF7 breast and PC3 prostate cancer cells by reaction-enhanced 1H-MRI T1 and T2 relaxation mapping.