Cyanine Phototruncation Enables Cell Labeling with Spatiotemporal Control

21 March 2022, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Photoconvertible tracking strategies examine the dynamic migration of various cell populations. Here we develop phototruncation-assisted cell tracking (PACT) and apply it to evaluate the migration of immune cells into tumor-draining lymphatics. This approach is enabled by a recently discovered cyanine photoconversion reaction that leads to the two-carbon truncation and consequent blue-shift of these commonly used probes. By examining substituent effects on the heptamethine cyanine chromophore, we find that introduction of a single methoxy group increases the yield of the phototruncation reaction in neutral buffer by almost 8-fold. The resulting cell-tracking probes are applied in a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments, including quantitative, time-dependent measurements of the migra-tion of immune cells from tumors to tumor-draining lymph nodes. Unlike previously reported cellular photoconversion approaches, this method does not require genetic engineer-ing. Overall, PACT provides a straightforward approach to labeling cell populations with precise spatiotemporal con-trol.

Keywords

cyanine fluorophores
photoconversion
cell tracking
imaging
cancer immunology

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Supplementary information
Description
Synthetic details and supplemental figures
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.