Novel Water-Soluble Far-Red Nitroreductase-Responsive Bodipy-Based Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Hypoxic Status in A549 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Over expression of nitroreductase (NTR) enzymes is closely related to the hypoxic status in living organisms for which molecular oxygen is vital. The development of effective methods for real-time monitoring of NTR activity is of great significance for medical diagnosis and cancer research. Here, we present a novel water-soluble Bodipy-based chemodosimeter (NBB) effective in imaging the hypoxic status of human non-small-cell lung cancer A549 cells. We assumed that NTR-mediated activation of the probe NBB is based on the reductive release of meso-phenol Bodipy dye to finally produce unusual fluorescence "ON-OFF" response.