Prof ANG Wee Han and his research team from the Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore have developed a mitochondria-targeted fluorescent probe for real-time imaging of clinically-important anticancer drug cisplatin in live cancer cell models. A mitochondria-targeted fluorescent probe known as Rho-Mito, is able to detect the presence of cisplatin selectively and with good precision within the mitochondria (see Figure (a)). The usual method of quantifying cisplatin is to measure the platinum content in cancer cells through elemental analysis. It is a laborious process involving isolation of mitochondria and acid digestion, which reduces experimental precision. Furthermore due to its destructive nature, this method can only be performed as a single time point measurement. It is not able to provide continuous measurements in living cells, which is required when studying platinum accumulation over time. With Rho-Mito, the group was able to perform real-time monitoring of cisplatin uptake in the mitochondria for the first time in living cells using fluorescence microscopy (see Figure (b)).
Prof Ang said, “We believe Rho-Mito is a useful tool which can empower researchers to better understand the mechanism of action of platinum-based drugs and pave the way for the design of more targeted and effective platinum drugs.” Moving forward, the team plans to expand the library of targeting probes for research on the localisation of platinum-based drugs in other cellular compartments within cancer cells. Read the full story here.
