Dual-Functional, Receptor-Targeted Fluorogenic Probe for In Vivo Imaging of Extracellular Protease Expressions

Herein, we report a new type of in vivo fluorogenic probe that enables simultaneous and active targeting of overexpressed receptors, α_Vβ₃ integrins, and extracellular proteases, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), in the tumor regions. This c(RGDyK)-conjugated MMP fluorogenic probe efficiently targets the tumor regions with high retention time while maintaining receptor binding affinity and substrate activity. The probe minimizes nonspecific accumulation, thus demonstrating improved tumor-to-background signal ratio (T/N) in both α_Vβ₃ integrin- and MMP-overexpressing U87MG tumor-bearing mouse model. This strategy can be easily tuned for a wide array of applications targeting various receptors and extracellular proteases in vivo.