Bioactivated in vivo assembly (BIVA) peptide-tetraphenylethylene (TPE) probe with controllable assembled nanostructure for cell imaging

The emergence of fluorescent light-up molecular probe, which can specifically turn on their fluorescent in the presence of stimulation factors, has open up a new opportunity to advance biosensing and bioimaging. In this work, we designed and synthesized a peptide-AIE conjugate probe for cell imaging with controlled in situ assembled nanostructures. The modular designed probe is consisted of a self-assembled peptide-tetraphenylethene (TPE) motif, a fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP-α) responsive motif, a hydrophilic motif and a targeting motif. The probe exhibits typically turn-on fluorescence property specifically triggered by FAP-α, which is a significant overexpressed membrane protein on pancreatic tumor cells. Interestingly, the peptide modified the TPE dramatically impacts the assembled nanostructure, which can be modulated by peptide sequences. As a result, the peptide FF(Phe-Phe) modification of TPE as the self-assembled motif provides a suitable balance of the probe with light-up property and nanofiber assembled structure in situ. Finally, our probe could effectively detect the FAP-α on tumor cells with high specificity. Meantime, the nanofibers in situ assembled on the surface of CAFs enhanced the probe accumulation and prolonged the retention for cell imaging. We envision that this study may inspire new insights into the design of nanostructure controlled AIE light-up bio-probe.