Issue 33, 2022

Intra Q-body: an antibody-based fluorogenic probe for intracellular proteins that allows live cell imaging and sorting

Abstract

Although intracellular biomarkers can be imaged with fluorescent dye(s)-labeled antibodies, the use of such probes for precise imaging of intracellular biomarkers in living cells remains challenging due to background noise from unbound probes. Herein, we describe the development of a conditionally active Fab-type Quenchbody (Q-body) probe derived from a monoclonal antibody (DO-1) with the ability to both target and spatiotemporally visualize intracellular p53 in living cells with low background signal. p53 is a key tumor suppressor and validated biomarker for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. The Q-body displayed up to 27-fold p53 level-dependent fluorescence enhancement in vitro with a limit of detection of 0.72 nM. In fixed and live cells, 8.3- and 8.4-fold enhancement was respectively observed. Furthermore, we demonstrate live-cell sorting based on p53 expression. This study provides the first evidence of the feasibility and applicability of Q-body probes for the live-cell imaging of intrinsically intracellular proteins and opens a novel avenue for research and diagnostic applications on intracellular target-based live-cell sorting.

Graphical abstract: Intra Q-body: an antibody-based fluorogenic probe for intracellular proteins that allows live cell imaging and sorting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
26 avr. 2022
Accepted
30 juil. 2022
First published
01 août 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 9739-9748

Intra Q-body: an antibody-based fluorogenic probe for intracellular proteins that allows live cell imaging and sorting

Y. Dai, Y. Sato, B. Zhu, T. Kitaguchi, H. Kimura, F. J. Ghadessy and H. Ueda, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 9739 DOI: 10.1039/D2SC02355E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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