An activatable DNA nanodevice for correlated imaging of apoptosis-related dual proteins

Apoptosis plays an important role in the life cycle of multicellular organisms. The development of techniques for sensitive monitoring of apoptosis-related key molecules can be used to assess not only disease progression but also its therapeutic interventions. However, there is still a lack of an imaging probe amenable for simultaneously detecting multiple biomarkers during drug-induced apoptosis. Herein, a novel activatable DNA nanodevice was designed to image apoptosis-related dual proteins in real time. The turn-on and specific recognition properties of our probe allow the spatially selective detection of apoptotic-related marker cytochrome c and apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 in living cells. We demonstrated that the DNA nanodevice has the ability to monitor apoptosis and evaluate the efficacy of apoptosis-related drugs, which potentially can be used as a tool to evaluate the molecular mechanism of apoptosis regulation or to screen apoptotic drugs.