Novel lysosome-targeted anticancer fluorescent agents used in zebrafish and nude mouse tumour imaging

Abstract

The design of three novel fatty nitrogen mustard-based anticancer agents with fluorophores incorporated into the alkene structure (CXL 118, CXL121, and CXL122) is described in this report. The results indicated that these compounds are selectively located in lysosomes and exhibit effective antitumour activity. Notably, these compounds can directly serve as both reporting and imaging agents in vitro and in vivo without the need to add other fluorescent tagging agents.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

fluorescent drug / lysosomal / anticancer / zebrafish / nude-mouse tumour imaging

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (Nos. 2020YJ0237, 2018SZ0030, 2019YFH0119), National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Z20191006) and the 1ˑ3ˑ5 Project for Disciplines of Excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Nos. ZYJC18025 and ZYJC18003).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2075-5 and is accessible for authorized users.

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

Xiuli Chen, Feng Liu, Bin Chen, Haiying Wu, Kun Li, Yongmei Xie, Weihong Kuang and Zhihui Li declare that they have no conflict of interest. All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

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