Fluorescent imaging agents
AssigneeVisEn Medical, Inc.
InventorsMilind Rajopadhye, Kevin Groves, Dorin V. Preda
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Abstract
Provided is a family of intramolecularly quenched imaging agents for use in both in vivo and in vitro imaging that contain at least one enzymatically cleavable oligopeptide and two fluorophores or a fluorophore and a quencher. When subjected to proteolytic cleavage, at least one fluorophore is unquenched and becomes capable of producing a fluorescent signal upon excitation with light of an appropriate wavelength. Also provided are in vivo and in vitro imaging methods using such imaging agents.
Claims20
A cyclic intramolecularly quenched imaging agent comprising:
- a) a first fluorophore chemically linked, directly or indirectly, to the C-terminus of a first cleavable oligopeptide and chemically linked, directly or indirectly, to the N-terminus of a second, optionally cleavable, oligopeptide;
- b) a second fluorophore chemically linked, directly or indirectly, to the N-terminus of the first cleavable oligopeptide and chemically linked directly or indirectly, to the C-terminus of the second, optionally cleavable oligopeptide;
- wherein one of the fluorophores quenches the other fluorophore;
- and
- c) optionally, at least one biological modifier chemically linked to the first or second oligopeptide or fluorophore.
An intramolecularly-quenched imaging agent represented by Formula V:
- wherein
- X1* independently, at each occurrence, is X-L-;
- X is an amino acid residue;
- L is a linker moiety or a bond;
- and
- F, independently, at each occurrence, is a fluorophore.
An intramolecularly-quenched imaging agent represented by Formula VI:
- wherein
- X1*, independently, at each occurrence, is X-L-;
- X is an amino acid residue;
- L is a linker moiety or a bond;
- F, independently, at each occurrence, is a fluorophore.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.