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Updated: Oct 25, 2026
In vivo Dual Substrate Bioluminescent Imaging
Published on: October 11, 2011
An Enterokinase-Activatable Bioluminescent Probe for In Vivo Tumor Imaging
Xiaotong Cheng1, Guowei Liang1, Tiantian Xia1
1State Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing211189, China.
Abstract:
The detection of enterokinase (ENTK) activity is essential for the investigation of ENTK-associated diseases, including cancer. However, existing methods are often limited by complex procedures or autofluorescence interference. Here, we report a bioluminescent probe, Ac-Asp-Asp-Asp-Asp-Lys-Luc (DDDDK-Luc), for real-time and sensitive imaging of ENTK activity both in vitro and in vivo. Characterized by a high signal-to-noise ratio and low detection limit, the probe exhibited a 59.7-fold bioluminescence enhancement upon ENTK cleavage in vitro with a detection limit of 5.58 U/L. Furthermore, DDDDK-Luc enabled real-time monitoring of endogenous ENTK activity in living HeLa cells and in a subcutaneous tumor xenograft mouse model. We anticipate that this probe holds great potential for applications in biopharmaceutical process control and ENTK-related disease diagnosis.
