Specific detection of integrin α vβ 3 by light-up bioprobe with aggregation-induced emission characteristics

Abstract

Specific bioprobes with fluorescence turn-on response are highly desirable for high contrast biosensing and imaging. In this work, we developed a new generation bioprobe by integrating tetraphenylsilole, a fluorogenic unit with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic, with cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid tripeptide (cRGD), a targeting ligand to integrin α vβ 3 receptor. Emission of the AIE probe is switched on upon its specific binding to integrin α vβ 3, which allows quantitative detection of integrin α vβ 3 in solution and real-time imaging of the binding process between cRGD and integrin α vβ 3 on cell membrane. The probe can be used for tracking integrin α vβ 3 and for identifying integrin α vβ 3-positive cancer cells. © 2012 American Chemical Society.