Fluorescent tracers for glucose-uptake monitoring could be used as chemical tools for diagnosis and for discovery of novel therapeutic agents via the development of phenotypic screening systems. Here we present a new near-infrared fluorescent glucose tracer, Glc-SiR-CO2H, for monitoring the cellular glucose uptake. By conjugating glucosamine with two different silicon rhodamine fluorochromes, we found that the net charge of fluorochromes has considerable effects on cellular uptake of the probe. Competition assay with d/l-glucose as well as Western blot analysis implied GLUT-dependent uptake mechanism of this probe. Finally, Glc-SiR-CO2H not only differentiates cancer cells from normal cells, but also allows monitoring anticancer effects in live cells.
This work was supported by the Creative Research Initiative Grant (2014R1A3A2030423), Bio & Medical Technology Development Program (2012M3A9C4048780), Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Institutional Program (2E27870 and 2E28411), and Basic Research Program (2009-0093826 and 2016R1C1B2014699) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean Government (Ministry of Science & ICT). A.J. and H.N. are grateful for her predoctoral fellowship awarded by the BK21 Plus Program.
