Mechanically-triggered Hybridization Chain Reaction

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2021 Jul 9. doi: 10.1002/anie.202107660. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTCells transmit piconewton forces to receptors to mediate processes such as migration and immune recognition. A major challenge in quantifying such forces is the sparsity of cell mechanical events. Accordingly, molecular tension is typically quantified with high resolution fluorescence microscopy, which hinders widespread adoption and application. Here, we report a mechanically-triggered hybridization chain reaction (mechano-HCR) that allows chemical amplification of mechanical events. The amplification is triggered when a cell receptor mechanically denatures a duplex revealing a cryptic initiator to activate the HCR reaction in situ. Importantly, mechano-HCR enables direct readout of pN forces using a plate reader. We leverage this capability and measured mechano-IC 50 for aspirin, Y-27632, and eptifibatide. Given that cell mechanical phenotypes are of clinical importance, mechano-HCR may offer a convenient route for drug discovery, personalized medicine, and disease diagnosis.PMID:34242462 | DOI:10.1002/anie.202107660
Source: Angewandte Chemie - Category: Chemistry Authors: Source Type: research