Protease probes built from DNA: Multispectral fluorescent DNA-peptide conjugates as caspase chemosensors

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201007805

Shaken, not stirred: A novel design for protease sensors is described, in which peptides are conjugated to a DNA backbone carrying multiple fluorophores. The multispectral oligodeoxyfluoroside (ODF) fluorophores are strongly quenched by a dabcyl group at the end of each peptide. In vitro and cellular selectivity assays showed that a mixture of three sensors could be used to identify different caspase activities by the fluorescence outcome (see picture). Copyright

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201007805

DOI: 10.1002/anie.201007805
Chemosensors
Protease Probes Built from DNA: Multispectral Fluorescent
DNA–Peptide Conjugates as Caspase Chemosensors**
Nan Dai, Jia Guo, Yin Nah Teo, and Eric T. Kool*
The direct monitoring of enzyme activities is broadly useful in
many fields, ranging from biochemistry to medicinal chemis-
try and biology.[1] A biological process often involves multiple
enzymes, which can work independently or cooperatively to
control a specific biological event. Monitoring their activities
can provide markers of the progress of such a process (such as
the cascade of caspase activity that occurs in apoptosis), and
yield information about the mechanism and timing of the
interacting species. The ability to track multiple targets in a
single event or different processes simultaneously could
greatly improve our basic understanding, and facilitate
biological and clinical studies as well.
However, the real-time fluorescent multicolor sensing of
enzymes faces some technical limitations due to the proper-
ties of available fluorophores. Traditional organic fluoro-
phores in distinct colors have disparate absorption wave-
lengths, requiring different filter sets for monitoring each
species. Moreover, the use of different fluorophores can
require the development of different conjugation strategies,
and complicated fluorophore–quencher pair selection. One
potential approach to address these problems is the use of
inorganic quantum dots (QDs), which allow single-wave-
length excitation, and can generate size- and composition-
tunable emissions.[2] However, difficulties in uniform chem-
ical modification and cellular delivery, along with their
relatively large size (15–35 nm) and cytotoxicity[3] present
some limitations of their own for application in sensing,
especially in the cellular context.
We have adopted a different approach for multispectral
labeling which makes use of short sequences of fluorophores
assembled on a DNA backbone, with the fluorophores
replacing DNA bases. In this oligodeoxyfluoroside (ODF)
design, the phosphodiester backbone confers aqueous solu-
bility and acts as a scaffold to hold the fluorophores close,
promoting electronic interactions.[4,5] Multiple forms of
energy and excitation transfer, such as excimer and exciplex
formation, and highly efficient Fꢀrster resonance energy
transfer (FRET), have been observed.[6,7] A broad spectrum
of ODFs can be excited at one wavelength,[8] which offers the
possibility of real-time multicolor application in biological
systems. In a recent initial test of applying ODF labels to
enzyme sensing, a cyan-colored tetrapyrene ODF was con-
jugated to a dabcyl quencher through ester linkages, and used
as a fluorescent reporter for esterases and lipases.[9] The ODF-
based probe showed good aqueous solubility, high quenching
efficiency, and large fluorescent signal turn-on in vitro and in
intact human cells.
A promising strategy for monitoring multiple enzyme
pathways would be the development of sets of dark
(quenched) chemosensors that can be monitored simultane-
ously by use of single-excitation multispectral labeling.
However, for ODF labels it is unknown whether they can
be applied to enzymes other than esterases. For example, in
the case of proteases, the active sites are relatively large,
requiring longer substrates and presenting a more difficult
challenge for quenching strategies and for synthesis and
conjugation. Thus we undertook a study to address these
issues, and we chose the well-studied caspases as a set of
biomedically relevant and selective protease enzymes as the
targets.
Caspases are a class of cysteine proteases that play central
roles in the cellular processes of apoptosis, necrosis, and
inflammation.[10] They are under investigation as drug targets
since they play key roles in these medically important
processes.[11] Caspase-controlled apoptosis has a characteristic
enzyme cascade, which involves multiple caspases at different
stages and pathways.[12] The family of enzymes has varied
sequence selectivity but all are known to require an aspartate
(Asp) residue at the substrate cleavage site.[13] Noteworthy
from the sensing standpoint is the fact that caspases are
usually in inactive forms before apoptosis, and can be
activated by external or internal chemical and physical
signals.[14]
Because of the broad biomedical importance of caspases,
development of sensors for these enzymes has received a
good deal of attention. Fluorescent caspase sensors can be
used to report on the apoptosis process in living cells, and
multiple types of such sensors have been reported.[15–18] Most
are based on traditional organic fluorophores conjugated to
caspase substrate peptides, and in some cases they have
limited solubility in water due to the poor solubility of both
the peptides and the organic fluorophores. Many probes are
not inherently dark, and so cannot be used in homogeneous
assays, and require washing procedures to be used in cells.[16,17]
Inorganic nanoparticle-based chemosensors of caspases have
also been reported,[19] but their practical application in living
systems remains to be demonstrated. Finally, engineered
dimers of fluorescent proteins bridged by caspase substrate
peptides have also been described, but as complex macro-
molecules they are not used in vitro, and require gene delivery
[*] N. Dai, J. Guo, Y. N. Teo, Prof. Dr. E. T. Kool
Department of Chemistry, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305 (USA)
Fax: (+1)650-725-0259
E-mail: kool@stanford.edu
[**] This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health
(GM067201). Y.N.T. acknowledges an A*STAR NSS scholarship.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201007805.
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Communications
or genetically modified cells to be active.[20,21] To our knowl-
edge there are no examples to date of multicolor quenched
probe sets selective for different caspases.
tion wavelength for probe 1 is 380 nm. All three sensors can
be excited using one excitation filter (330–380 nm) under an
epifluorescence microscope.
Here we describe the synthesis, fluorescence, and enzyme
substrate properties of a set of three multicolor caspase
chemosensors built with distinct ODF labels. This novel
DNA-peptide conjugate sensor design utilizes different ODF
sequences as fluorophores and dabcyl as a general quencher,
and it contains short caspase substrate peptides in between.
We demonstrate selective reporting of three different cas-
pases by distinct color responses. Further, an ODF caspase
probe is shown to function in cell culture to report on
apoptosis.
Absorption spectra were obtained both for the chemo-
sensors and for the ODF components. The spectra of the
ODF sensors show the expected bands that are characteristic
of the dye components (Figure S1). Bands are visible for
pyrene, perylene, and monomer K; in addition, the long-
wavelength absorption band of the dabcyl (methyl red)
quencher is also present. To test the inherent quenching
efficiency of dabcyl for the three ODF sequences, we
separately prepared dabcyl-quenched conjugates with a
previously reported ester linkage rather than amide link-
ages.[9] These model compounds allowed all three fluoro-
phore–quencher pairs to be completely released by one
enzyme under identical conditions. Experiments showed that
the YYYY sequence has the highest fluorescence turn-on
ratio, about 60-fold at 480 nm.[9] EE and YKY also showed
strong fluorescence turn-on, ca. 20-fold at the long-wave-
length emission bands (Figure S2). The liberated ODFs
appeared cyan, yellow-white, and red under a UV lamp
after the cleavage reactions were complete (Figure S2). These
results indicate that a simple dabcyl group can be used to
quench all tested multiply colored ODFs with good quench-
ing efficiency, thus significantly reducing the complexity of
fluorophore–quencher pair selection in chemosensor design.
For the three peptide-linked caspase probes (1–3) in this
study, spectral comparison before and after cleavage can be
made indirectly, by comparing residual emission spectra of
the unreacted (dark) probes with the spectra of the corre-
sponding ODF fluorophores alone. Results (Figure S3) are
similar to the ester-linked model systems, showing (for the
unreacted probes) strong quenching at the long-wavelength
bands.
Next we turned to the enzymatic reporting potential of
caspase substrate probe compounds 1–3. Homogeneous
enzymatic assays for the three candidate chemosensors were
performed with recombinant human caspases 2, 7, and 9,
respectively, in 10 mm HEPES buffer (pH 7.3). Results
showed that significant fluorescence enhancement was
observed in each case (Figures 1 and S4), indicating the
occurrence of a measurable degree of peptide cleavage over
the 4 h time course. The probes 1–3 yielded fluorescence
enhancements at 550, 480, and 620 nm respectively, consistent
with the results of the above model studies. The reaction rates
were lower than for the esterase references, particularly for
probe 3 which yielded a relatively small 76% enhancement
after 4 h. We expect that the rates of caspase cleavage can be
affected by multiple factors, including inherent enzyme
activity, instability of the enzymes over the assay period,
and possibly unfavorable interactions between ODFs and the
caspase active sites.
Each caspase chemosensor contains three parts: an ODF
sequence as the fluorophore, a quencher, and a short peptide
as the caspase substrate in the middle (Scheme 1). We
employed
a
convergent strategy for their synthesis
(Scheme S1, Supporting Information). First, three ODF
Scheme 1. Structures of ODF-based fluorescent caspase chemosensors
and their components. A) Complete structure of an ODF sensor
(probe 1 is shown as an example); B) Structures of monomers
incorporated into ODF labels; C) Sequences of the three probes
designed for caspases 2, 7, and 9, respectively.
sequences with different emission colors were prepared on a
DNA synthesizer: EE (yellow), YYYY (cyan), and YKY
(orange). Two C3 spacers (S, with one phosphate group each)
were placed at the 3’ end of each ODF sequence to improve
the solubility in water, and an azide group was placed at the 5’
end for bioorthogonal conjugation by “click” cycloaddition.[9]
Three short caspase substrate peptides were synthesized:
Val-Asp-Val-Ala-Asp for caspase-2, Asp-Glu-Val-Asp for
caspase-3/7, and Leu-Glu-His-Asp for caspase-9.[22–25] 5-Hex-
ynoic acid was coupled to the N-terminus of each peptide to
provide an alkyne for conjugation, and dabcyl was coupled to
the C-termini as a prospective general quencher.
Three caspase chemosensors with peptide–DNA conju-
gate structure were synthesized (see sequences in Figure 1c):
probe 1 for caspase-2, probe 2 for caspase-7, and probe 3 for
caspase-9. The compounds were purified by HPLC, and
identities were confirmed by MALDI-MS and by spectral
characterization. The absorption spectra indicate that probes
2 and 3 can be excited at 340 nm. Because perylene (E) does
not have strong absorbance at 340 nm, the optimum excita-
To test whether the probes exhibited selectivity for one
caspase over another, assays were performed using an
equimolar mixture of the three probes. One caspase was
added into a cocktail containing equal amounts of all three
caspase chemosensors, and the reaction mixture was incu-
bated at 308C for 4 h. Fluorescence changes were analyzed by
emission spectra (Figure 2) and visual inspection (Figures 2G
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Next we tested whether an ODF probe could detect
caspase activity in intact HeLa cells. Initial tests of the probes
in cultured cells revealed that signals from probes 1 and 2
were difficult to observe above background (see Figure S6),
which could be due to low activity of corresponding caspases,
and/or from obscuring of the relatively low signal by back-
ground fluorescence. For continuing experiments we chose
probe 3, which showed strong signals (Figure 3), likely due to
high caspase-9 activity, which was activated by anisomycin
through the chemically induced apoptosis pathway,[26] and
possibly also to the red color, which is expected to suffer from
less cellular background interference. The commercial cat-
ionic lipid Exgen 500 was used as the delivery reagent to
enhance uptake of the polyanionic chemosensor into the cells.
As expected, the addition of anisomycin resulted in strong
changes in cell morphology after 3–4 h, characteristic of
apoptosis. Experiments with the probe added showed strong
orange fluorescence 2 h after addition of the apoptosis-
inducing agent, while no significant fluorescence was
observed in the controls lacking anisomycin (Figures 3 and
S6). Clear differences in fluorescence between the anisomy-
cin-treated cells and untreated controls could still be observed
12 h after treatment. After 24 h, the controls also showed
orange fluorescence, likely due to nonspecific cleavage by
other protease(s) in the cells (Figure S7). It is noteworthy that
the signals remain associated with cells for at least 24 h; we
attribute this to the polyanionic charge of the probe, which is
Figure 1. In vitro enzymatic assay of caspase probes 1, 2, and 3. Each
vial contains 0.5 mm probe and 625 UmLÀ1 of corresponding caspase
enzyme. Fluorescence spectra were recorded in HEPES buffer (10 mm,
with 2 mm DTT (dithiothreitol) and 0.1% Prionex, pH 7.33) at 308C in
a time course of 4 h. Left: full range fluorescence spectra; right:
fluorescence change after 4 h (spectra were obtained by subtracting
the spectra at 0 min from the spectra at 4 h). A,B) Probe 1 with
caspase-2; C,D)probe 2 with caspase-7; E,F) probe 3 with caspase-9.
EE was excited at 380 nm, while YYYY and YKY were excited at 340 nm.
and S5). Results showed
fluorescence changes that
were similar to the changes
with the same enzyme/
sensor pair alone (Figures 1
and 2). The selectivity is
readily observed by eye
(Figures 2G and S5). Cas-
pase-2 is highly specific to
short peptide Val-Asp-Val-
Ala-Asp,[22] and strong
yellow fluorescence was
observed when it was
added into the sensor mix-
ture, characteristic of the
response of probe 1. Cas-
pase-9 is selective for the
peptide
Leu-Glu-His-
Asp,[23] and orange-red
fluorescence was observed
after enzyme addition, sim-
ilar to the observation with
probe 3 alone. Finally, cas-
pase-7 is known to recog-
nize the peptide Asp-Glu-
Val-Asp (the peptide in
Figure 2. In vitro selectivity assay with different caspase enzymes. Each vial contained 0.5 mm of all three
caspase probes and 625 UmLÀ1 of one caspase enzyme. Conditions were as in Figure 1 with a time course of
4 h. Left: full range fluorescence spectra; right: spectral change after 4 h (spectra obtained by subtracting the
spectra at 0 min from the spectra at 4 h). A,B) With caspase-2, excited at 380 nm; C,D) with caspase-7, excited
at 340 nm; E,F) with caspase-9, excited at 340 nm (inset shows magnified scale). G) Images of caspase
selectivity assays taken under a UV lamp with 2.5 mm caspase probes. Top: mixed probes only; bottom: same
probe mixture with each caspase added separately (image after 4 h).
probe 2), while it also shows weak activity with Val-Asp-
Val-Ala-Asp.[24] Green fluorescence was observed with cas-
pase-7, matching our expectation of sensor response for this
enzyme.
expected to hinder passage through the cell membrane. This
favorable property allows a time course of activity to be
observed without loss of the sensor to the medium. This
obviates the need for protein crosslinking (a common strategy
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sequences were synthesized with standard
DMT/phosphoramidite chemistry. The 5’-
azide was added by reacting a commercial
5’-bromoalkyl linker with sodium azide.
Substrate peptides were prepared with
standard solid-phase peptide synthesis on
a 2-chlorotrityl chloride resin, with 5-
hexynoic acid coupled to the N-terminus.
Dabcyl was coupled to the C-terminus
and the peptide–quencher compounds
were purified by reverse-phase HPLC.
They were then coupled to the corre-
sponding ODF sequences by CuI-medi-
ated Huisgen–Sharpless cycloaddition.[9]
The final caspase chemosensors were
purified by HPLC on a reverse phase
(C5) column, and the identities were
confirmed by MALDI-MS.
UV and fluorescence spectra of ODF
sequences and caspase probes were
Figure 3. True-color images of cellular apoptosis experiments. Experiments were performed with
2.5 mm probe 3 in HeLa cells under 100ꢀ microscope using Exgen 500 as delivery agent, and time
was recorded after adding anisomycin. Top: control experiments without anisomycin (À); bottom
line: experiments with 125 mgmLÀ1 anisomycin (+). A,F) 1 h; B,G) 2 h; C,H) 4 h; D,I) 12 h;
E,J) 24 h.
obtained in pure water at room temper-
ature. Fluorescence spectra for in vivo
in caspase probes), which inactivates the caspases in the act of
detecting them.[16,17] Moreover, the presence of the DNA
backbone here allows for convenient use of commercial DNA
uptake reagents for intracellular delivery, thus eliminating the
need for complex conjugation strategies.
caspase activity assays were recorded in HEPES buffer (10 mm, with
2 mm DTT and 0.1% Prionex, pH 7.33) at 308C. Each vial contained
0.5 mm probe (or probe cocktail) and 625 UmLÀ1 of corresponding
caspase enzyme.
Cellular assays: Cells were plated in chambered coverglass and
allowed to reach 60% confluency. The growth medium was removed
and new growth medium containing 2.5 mm caspase sensor along with
82 nm Exgen 500 was added to the cells and incubated at 378C under
5% CO2 for 1 h. Cells were then incubated with 125 mgmLÀ1 of
anisomycin at 378C under 5% CO2 for varied times.
The probes could also function together in cells as a
cocktail, where the orange signal of probe 3 dominated at
later time points, but green signals (indicating caspase-3
activity) were visible at 2 h (Figure S8). The signals observed
with probe 3 are consistent with known caspase activities in
anisomycin-induced apoptosis. The drug activates c-Jun N-
terminal kinase (JNK), which then activates caspase-8. The
apoptosis signal is amplified by caspase-9 (the probeꢁs
intended target), which then facilitates the activation of the
effector enzyme caspase-3 to start apoptosis.[26] Anisomycin
induces apoptosis in a concentration-dependent fashion,[27]
and treatment of HeLa cells with 10 ngmLÀ1 necrosis factor
and 10 mgmLÀ1 anisomycin was reported to cause 38% cell
Received: December 11, 2010
Published online: March 31, 2011
Keywords: apoptosis · caspase · fluorescent probes ·
imaging agents · oligodeoxyfluoroside
.
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