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Identification of Tumor Initiating Cells with a Small‐Molecule Fluorescent Probe by Using Vimentin as a Biomarker
Author(s) -
Lee YongAn,
Kim JongJin,
Lee Jungyeol,
Lee Jia Hui Jane,
Sahu Srikanta,
Kwon HawYoung,
Park SungJin,
Jang SeYoung,
Lee JunSeok,
Wang Zhenxun,
Tam Wai Leong,
Lim Bing,
Kang NamYoung,
Chang YoungTae
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201712920
Subject(s) - vimentin , tics , biomarker , cancer research , metastasis , epithelial–mesenchymal transition , chemistry , biology , cancer , pathology , medicine , biochemistry , immunohistochemistry , neuroscience , genetics
Abstract Tumor initiating cells (TICs) have been implicated in clinical relapse and metastasis of a variety of epithelial cancers, including lung cancer. While efforts toward the development of specific probes for TIC detection and targeting are ongoing, a universal TIC probe has yet to be developed. We report the first TIC‐specific fluorescent chemical probe, TiY, with identification of the molecular target as vimentin, a marker for epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT). TiY selectively stains TICs over differentiated tumor cells or normal cells, and facilitates the visualization and enrichment of functionally active TICs from patient tumors. At high concentration, TiY also shows anti‐TIC activity with low toxicity to non‐TICs. With the unexplored target vimentin, TiY shows potential as a first universal probe for TIC detection in different cancers.