Abstract: | Gene recognition has extensively been applied in bioanalysis and bioimaging, whether in vitro or in vivo, as well as biomedicine such as clinical diagnosis and disease therapy due to its excellent specificity, which is of significance in the design of signal switch or signal amplifier for highly sensitive biosensing and cell-specific bioimaging of different biomolecules, and the development of siRNA delivery systems and drug vectors for controllable intracellular siRNA or drug release and precise therapy of cancer.The rational functionalization of nanomaterials with target-specific DNA moieties to recognize different receptors both on cell surface and in cells has led to a large number of versatile theranostic nanosystems. Here I report several theranostic nanosystems developed in my group based on the specific gene recognition. Firstly, several signal switches were designed for sensitive bioimaging and in situ detection of cancer-related biomolecules [1-6]. By functionalizing nanoparticles with cell-targeting moity and conjugated gene probe, a target-cell-specific delivery strategy for imaging and detection of intracellular miRNA was developed [1]. By interval hybridization of modified hairpin DNA probe pairs, a responsive “nano string light” was proposed for highly efficient mRNA imaging in living cells [2]. A photo zipper locked DNA nanomachine was also assembled for precise miRNA imaging in living cells [3]. Besides RNA, two switchable fluorescent probes were developed for in situ “off-on” imaging of intracellular telomerase by its catalysis toward synthesis of telomeric repeats [4,5], and a hierarchical coding strategy was proposed for live cell imaging of protein-specific glycoform [6]. Secondly, some siRNA delivery systems were designed for gene therapy of cancer [7-10]. A DNA dual lock-and-key strategy was designed for cell-subtype-specific siRNA delivery [7], two upconversion nanoprobes were developed for near-infrared modulated efficient siRNA delivery and therapy [8,9], and in situ siRNA assembly was achieved in living cells for gene therapy [10]. Thirdly, to enhance therapeutic efficiency, a DNA-azobenzene nanopump was designed for controllable intracellular drug release [11], a near-infrared photo-switched microRNA amplifier was proposed for precise photodynamic therapy of early-stage cancers [12], and a DNA nanomachine via computation across cancer cell membrane was recently developed for precise therapy of solid tumor [13]. References (Some of the publications can be downloaded from https://cms.nju.edu.cn/hxju/lwlz/ ) 1. H.F. Dong, J.P. Lei, H.X. Ju, F. Zhi, H. Wang, W.J. G, Z. Zhu, F. Yan, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 4607. 2. K.W. Ren, Y.F. Xu, Y. Liu, M. Yang, H.X. Ju, via accelerated DNA cascade reaction,ACS Nano. 2018, 12, 263. 3. Y. Zhang, Y. Zhang, X.B. Zhang, Y.Y. Li, Y.L. He, Y. Liu, H.X. Ju, Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 6289-6296. 4. R.C. Qian, L. Ding, H.X. Ju, J. Am. Chem. Soc.2013, 135, 13282. 5. R.C. Qian, L. Ding, L. Yan, M. Lin, H.X. Ju, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 8205. 6. S.Q. Li, Y.R. Liu, L. Liu, Y.M. F, L. Ding, H.X. Ju, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 12007. 7. K.W. Ren, Y. Liu, J. Wu, Y. Zhang, J. Zhu, M. Yang, H. . Ju*, Nat. Commun. 2016, 7, 13580. 8. Y. Zhang, K.W. Ren, X.B. Zhang, Z.C. Chao, Y.Q. Yang, D.J. Ye, Z.H. Dai, Y. Liu, H.X. Ju, Biomaterials2018, 163, 55. 9. Y.L. He, S.W. Guo, L.N. Wu, P.W. Chen, L.Y. Wang, Y. Liu, H.X. Ju, Biomaterials 2019, 225, 119501. 10. K.W. Ren, Y. Zhang, X.B. Zhang, Y. Liu, M. Yang, H.X. Ju, ACS Nano2018, 12, 10797. 11. Y. Zhang, Y. Zhang, G. B. Song, Y.L. He, X.B. Zhang, Y. Liu, H.X. Ju, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2019, 58, 18207. 12. Y. Zhang, W.W. Chen, Y. Zhang, X.B. Zhang, Y. Liu, H.X. Ju, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2020, 59, 21454. 13.Y. Zhang, W.W. Chen, X.B. Zhang, Y.L. He, Y. Liu*, H.X. Ju, J. Am. Chem. Soc.2021, 10.1021/jacs.1c06361,published: on Sept. 12. |
