Discrimination of Invasive Human Skin Tumor Using an Ultrafast ATP-Proton AND-Gate Probe

Cancer cells undergo unscheduled proliferation resulting from dysregulation of the cell cycle, and hence, evaluation in tumor is ofkeen interest to examine the invasiveness and recurrence of cancer inthe lesion. Molecular probes capable of discriminating actively growingtumor from resting ones remain unexplored despite their vastimportance. Here, we describe a novel strategy to visualize invasiveareas in tumor with afluorescence probe that implements synergistic fluorescence response toward the slightly acidic environment of tumor and an ATP-abundant nature of actively growing cells. The probe has been designed for ultrafast detection of ATP with high specificity. We demonstrate its utility in visualizing invasive areas in tumor by distinguishing basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas at their early stages by two-photon microscopy