A cancer cell-specific fluorescent probe for imaging Cu²⁺ in living cancer cells

Monitoring copper level in cancer cells is important for the further understanding of its roles in the cell proliferation, and also could afford novel copper-based strategy for the cancer therapy. Herein, we have developed a novel cancer cell-specific fluorescent probe for the detecting Cu²⁺ in living cancer cells. The probe employed biotin as the cancer cell-specific group. Before the treatment of Cu²⁺, the probe showed nearly no fluorescence. However, the probe can display strong fluorescence at 581nm in response to Cu²⁺. The probe exhibited excellent sensitivity and high selectivity for Cu²⁺ over the other relative species. Under the guidance of biotin group, could be successfully used for detecting Cu²⁺ in living cancer cells. We expect that this design strategy could be further applied for detection of the other important biomolecules in living cancer cells.