A goal of cancer research is to develop specific and sensitive tumor-imaging techniques for early detection while minimizing background signals from nontarget, 'normal' tissues. The authors have designed a 'pH-activatable' probe, consisting of a targeted macromolecule (monoclonal antibody) and a fluorescence probe, which is activated after internalization in the lysosomes of targeted cancer cells. The utility of this approach for imaging HER2-positive lung cancer cells in mice is shown.
- Yasuteru Urano
- Daisuke Asanuma
- Hisataka Kobayashi
