Open AccessUsing the SNAP-Tag technology to easily measure and demonstrate apoptotic changes in cancer and blood cells with different dyes
Author(s) -
Mira Woitok,
Elena Grieger,
Olusiji A. Akinrinmade,
Susanne Bethke,
Anh Tuan Pham,
Christoph Stein,
Rolf Fendel,
Rainer Fischer,
Stefan Barth,
Judith Niesen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0243286
Subject(s) - flow cytometry , apoptosis , annexin , annexin a5 , ex vivo , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biophysics , in vivo , snap , cancer cell , fluorescence , in vitro , biochemistry , biology , cancer , computer science , genetics , computer graphics (images) , physics , quantum mechanics
In vitro and ex vivo development of novel therapeutic agents requires reliable and accurate analyses of the cell conditions they were preclinical tested for, such as apoptosis. The detection of apoptotic cells by annexin V (AV) coupled to fluorophores has often shown limitations in the choice of the dye due to interference with other fluorescent-labeled cell markers. The SNAP-tag technology is an easy, rapid and versatile method for functionalization of proteins and was therefore used for labeling AV with various fluorophores. We generated the fusion protein AV-SNAP and analyzed its capacity for the specific display of apoptotic cells in various assays with therapeutic agents. AV-SNAP showed an efficient coupling reaction with five different fluorescent dyes. Two selected fluorophores were tested with suspension, adherent and peripheral blood cells, treated by heat-shock or apoptosis-inducing therapeutic agents. Flow cytometry analysis of apoptotic cells revealed a strong visualization using AV-SNAP coupled to these two fluorophores exemplary, which was comparable to a commercial AV-Assay-kit. The combination of the apoptosis-specific binding protein AV with the SNAP-tag provides a novel solid method to facilitate protein labeling using several, easy to change, fluorescent dyes at once. It avoids high costs and allows an ordinary exchange of dyes and easier use of other fluorescent-labeled cell markers, which is of high interest for the preclinical testing of therapeutic agents in e.g. cancer research.