AUTHOR=Jia Zhiyuan , Han Hai-Hao , Sedgwick Adam C. , Williams George T. , Gwynne Lauren , Brewster James T. , Bull Steven D. , Jenkins A. Toby A. , He Xiao-Peng , Schönherr Holger , Sessler Jonathan L. , James Tony D. 

TITLE=Protein Encapsulation: A Nanocarrier Approach to the Fluorescence Imaging of an Enzyme-Based Biomarker

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.00389

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2020.00389

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=We report a new pentafluoropropanamido rhodamine fluorescent probe (ACS-HNE) that facilitates the selective detection of neutrophil elastase (NE). ACS-HNE displayed high sensitivity, with a low limit of detection (< 5.3 nM), and excellent selectivity towards elastase over other relevant biological analytes and enzymes. The comparatively poor solubility and cell permeability of ACS-HNE was improved by creating a ACS-HNE-albumin complex; this approach allowed for improvements in the in situ visualisation of elastase activity in RAW264.7 cells relative to ACS-HNE alone. As such the present study serves to demonstrate a simple strategy that may be used to overcome cell impermeability and solubility limitations, and to prepare probes suitable for the cellular imaging of enzymatic activity in vitro.