In Situ Imaging of Furin Activity with a Highly Stable Probe by Releasing of Precipitating Fluorochrome

Furin, a kind of trans-Golgi proprotein convertases, plays important role in various physiological processes. It is overexpressed in many cancers and relates to tumor growth and migration. In situ detection and imaging of furin is of great significance for obtaining real-time information about its activity. However, the previously reported fluorescent probes for furin usually failed to realize in situ detection and long-term bioimaging, because these probes are based on water-soluble fluorophores, which tend to diffuse away from the reaction sites after converted by furin. Such a problem can be addressed by designing a probe, which releases a precipitating fluorophore upon furin conversion. Herein, we developed a probe HPQF for in situ detection of endogenous furin activity and long-term bioimaging by integrating a strictly insoluble solid-state fluorophore 6-chloro-2-(2-hydroxyphenyl) quinazolin-4(3H)-one (Cl-HPQ) with a furin specific peptide substrate (RVRR) through a self-immolative linker. The HPQF probe shows high selectivity and sensitivity to furin. Upon converted by furin, HPQF releases free Cl-HPQ, which precipitates near the enzyme active site. The precipitates emit bright solid-state fluorescence for in situ imaging. HPQF could truly visualize the location of intracellular furin, which was further confirmed by colocalization and immunofluorescence experiments. Excitingly, the long-term bioimaging was also achieved benefiting from its outstanding signal-stability and antidiffusion ability. HPQF was further utilized to monitor the level change of furin under stabilizing of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) regulated by cobalt chloride (CoCl₂) as well as visualization of furin in MDA-MB-468 cell tumor tissues.