title: A biocompatible "split luciferin" reaction and its application for non-invasive bioluminescent imaging of protease activity in living animals.
abstract: The great complexity of many human pathologies, such as cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases, requires new tools for studies of biological processes on the whole organism level. The discovery of novel biocompatible reactions has tremendously advanced our understanding of basic biology; however, no efficient tools exist for real-time non-invasive imaging of many human proteases that play very important roles in multiple human disorders. We recently reported that the "split luciferin" biocompatible reaction represents a valuable tool for evaluation of protease activity directly in living animals using bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Since BLI is the most sensitive in vivo imaging modality known to date, this method can be widely applied for the evaluation of the activity of multiple proteases, as well as identification of their new peptide-specific substrates. In this unit, we describe several applications of this "split luciferin" reaction for quantification of protease activities in test tube assays and living animals.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Aurélien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Godinat
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ghyslain
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Budin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alma R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
authors.forename: Hyo Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
authors.forename: Laura E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Sanman
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.|Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bogyo
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elena A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Dubikovskaya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D052160:Benzothiazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D053179:Caspase 7 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D049449:Luminescence; D051379:Mice; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013917:Thrombin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D052160:Benzothiazoles; C532924:D-luciferin; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; D013917:Thrombin; D053148:Caspase 3; D053179:Caspase 7
keywords: bioluminescent imaging; bioocompatible reaction; in vivo; non-invasive; protease activity