Small ultra-red fluorescent protein nanoparticles as exogenous probes for noninvasive tumor imaging in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Nanoparticles are excellent imaging agents for cancer, but variability in chemical structure, racemic mixtures, and addition of heavy metals hinders FDA approval in the United States. We developed a small ultra-red fluorescent protein, named smURFP, to have optical properties similar to the small-molecule Cy5, a heptamethine subclass of cyanine dyes (Ex/Em = 642/670 nm). smURFP has a fluorescence quantum yield of 18% and expresses so well in E. coli, that gram quantities of fluorescent protein are purified from cultures in the laboratory. In this research, the fluorescent protein smURFP was combined with bovine serum albumin into fluorescent protein nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are fluorescent with a quantum yield of 17% and 12-14 nm in diameter. The far-red fluorescent protein nanop

SUBMITTER: An F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7493049 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature