An Enzyme-Triggered Au–Se Nanodevice for Precise Imaging of MicroRNA

作者：Ruyue Wei, Shuqi Wang, Yingbo Pan, Peng Miao, Wei Pan, Na Li, Bo Tang · 发表于：Analytical Chemistry · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acs.analchem.5c00395 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques、Advanced Nanomaterials in Catalysis、Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics

In situ imaging of microRNA (miRNA) in tumor cells is vital for clinical diagnosis and pathological research. However, achieving high-precision imaging is always limited by undesirable background signals. Herein, we introduced a gold-selenium-based nanodevice (AuSeND) for high-fidelity imaging of miRNA via enzyme-triggered catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA). This system employs an enzyme-activatable CHA circuit, constructed by extending a short tail at the 3' end of hairpin H1 with an apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) site. The CHA circuit components are connected to the surface of AuNPs via Au-Se bonds, forming a Au-Se nanodevice. It remains inactive in normal cells, while in tumor cells, the CHA circuit is activated by apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) in the cytoplasm, generating a fluorescence signal under miRNA stimulation for miRNA imaging. The developed AuSeND enables cancer cell-selective miRNA imaging and improves the signal-to-noise ratio by combining the high stability of the Au-Se bond with the specific regulation of the APE1 enzyme, offering strong potential for clinical diagnostic applications.