Customized fluorescent probe for peering into the expression of butyrylcholinesterase in thyroid cancer

Wenxin Kang; Mo Ma; Lanlan Xu; Shuai Tang; Jingkang Li; Pinyi Ma; Daqian Song; Ying Sun

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2023.341932

Customized fluorescent probe for peering into the expression of butyrylcholinesterase in thyroid cancer

Anal Chim Acta. 2023 Nov 22:1282:341932. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341932. Epub 2023 Oct 19.

Authors

Wenxin Kang¹, Mo Ma², Lanlan Xu¹, Shuai Tang³, Jingkang Li¹, Pinyi Ma¹, Daqian Song¹, Ying Sun⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry, Jilin Province Research Center for Engineering and Technology of Spectral Analytical Instruments, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun, 130012, China.
² College of Chemistry, Jilin Province Research Center for Engineering and Technology of Spectral Analytical Instruments, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun, 130012, China; School of Pharmacy, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun, 130012, China.
³ School of Chemistry, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun, 130012, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry, Jilin Province Research Center for Engineering and Technology of Spectral Analytical Instruments, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun, 130012, China. Electronic address: yingsun@jlu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37923409
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341932

Abstract

Background: Thyroid cancer has been increasingly prevalent in recent years. The main diagnostic methods for thyroid are B-ultrasound scan, serum detection and puncture detection. However, these methods are invasive and complex. It is a pressing need to develop non-invasive or minimally invasive methods for thyroid cancer diagnosis. Fluorescence method as a non-invasive detection method has attracted much attention. Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is a common enzyme in the human body, and many diseases affect its reduction. We found that BChE is also a marker for thyroid cancer. Therefore, it is of certain clinical value to explore the expression of BChE in thyroid cancer cells through a customized fluorescent probe to provide valuable experimental data and clues for studying the expression of thyroid cancer marker to reflect thyroid status.

Results: In this study, we customized a fluorescent probe named Kang-BChE, which is easy to synthesize with a high yield. The experimental results show that the probe Kang-BChE can detect BChE in the linear range of 0-900 U L^-1 (R² = 0.9963), and the detection limit is as low as 3.93 U L^-1 (λ_ex/em = 550/689 nm). In addition, Kang-BChE probes have low cytotoxicity, good specificity, and can completely eliminate interference from acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Kang-BChE showed excellent stability in the detection of complex biological samples in serum recovery experiments (95.64-103.12 %). This study was the first time using Kang-BChE to study the low expression of BChE in thyroid cancer cells (Tpc-1 cells). In addition, we observed that H₂O₂ concentration in Tpc-1 cells was positively correlated with BChE activity.

Significance: Kang-BChE is expected to be an important tool for monitoring the change of BChE content in complex biological environments due to its excellent performance. Kang-BChE can also be used to explore the influence of molecules in more organisms on the change of BChE content due to its excellent anti-interference ability. We expect that Kang-BChE can play a significant role in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer.

Keywords: BChE; Cell imaging; Fluorescent probe; Sensors; Thyroid cancer.

MeSH terms

Acetylcholinesterase
Butyrylcholinesterase*
Fluorescent Dyes
Humans
Hydrogen Peroxide
Thyroid Neoplasms* / diagnostic imaging

Substances

Butyrylcholinesterase
Fluorescent Dyes
Acetylcholinesterase
Hydrogen Peroxide