Reply: To PMID 23258530

Simultaneous Targeted Analysis of GGT and Its H-Type mRNA in HepG2 Cells Based on Degradable Silicon Nanomaterials

Most important physiological processes in live cells are usually maintained by the interaction of multiple related biomolecules; the multi-target simultaneous analysis of these related molecules can better reflect the dynamic changes of their biological regulatory processes, providing more comprehensive information for diseases diagnosis and research. Herein, we have constructed the degradable multifunctional silica nanomaterials from the prepared degradable organic silicon source and further established degradable composite nanoprobes (DCNPs). The low toxicity of DCNPs could reduce the impact on normal physiological processes in cells and achieve the needs of living cell analysis applications; by the loading of the gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity-identification probe (Cy-GGT) and surface nucleic acid-recognizing molecular beacon (hairpin) modification, the DCNP realized the simultaneous image analysis of GGT and its related H-type mutated GGT mRNA (H-mRNA) in HepG2 cells and their quantitative detection in vitro. Compared with the traditional multi-target analysis strategy, the lack of targets' physiological mechanism connection was improved, and the combined application of small molecular probes and nucleic acid analysis structures was realized under the control of the cross-influence. This strategy is expected to provide a new direction for the design of multi-target analysis in live cells and provide more accurate analytical tools for clinical research and cancer therapy.