A Fluorescent Activatable AND-Gate Chemokine CCL2 Enables In Vivo Detection of Metastasis-Associated Macrophages.

ABSTRACT: We report the novel chemical design of fluorescent activatable chemokines as highly specific functional probes for imaging subpopulations of immune cells in live tumours. Activatable chemokines behave as AND-gates since they emit only after receptor binding and intracellular activation, showing enhanced selectivity over existing agents. We have applied this strategy to produce mCCL2-MAF as the first probe for in vivo detection of metastasis-associated macrophages in a preclinical model of lung metastasis. This strategy will accelerate the preparation of new chemokine-based probes for imaging immune cell function in tumours.

SUBMITTER: Fernandez A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6900180 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature