Strain Release in Organic Photonic Nanoparticles for Protease Sensing
Proteases are overexpressed in most cancers and proteolytic activity has been shown to be a viable marker for cancer imaging in vivo. Herein, we describe the synthesis of luminescence-quenched shell cross-linked nanoparticles as photonic nanoprobes for protease sensing. Protease sensing scheme is ba...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
American Chemical Society
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78310 |
| Summary: | Proteases are overexpressed in most cancers and proteolytic activity has been shown to be a viable marker for cancer imaging in vivo. Herein, we describe the synthesis of luminescence-quenched shell cross-linked nanoparticles as photonic nanoprobes for protease sensing. Protease sensing scheme is based on a “turn-on” mechanism where the protease cleaves peptide cross-linkers of the fluorescence-quenched shell cross-linked NP (OFF state) leading to a highly emissive non-cross linked NP (ON state). The cross-linked particles can be strained by exposure to a good solvent and proteolysis allows for particle expansion (swelling) and a recovery of the luminescence. |
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