https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/bioi-2026-0012
Announcing a new article publication in
BIO Integration. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) therapy holds great promise for regenerative medicine, but its clinical translation is hindered by the lack of non-invasive, real-time methods to track transplanted cell fate in vivo. Although photoacoustic (PA) imaging offers deep-tissue penetration and high sensitivity, existing cell-labeling strategies relying on endocytosis of contrast agents have drawbacks of prolonged incubation times and variable efficiency, thus potentially compromising cell viability and function.
To address these limitations, a rapid, bioorthogonal pre-labeling strategy was developed. Azide (N3) groups were first metabolically engineered onto BMSC surfaces. Subsequently, dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)-functionalized gold nanostars (Au-star-DBCO) were conjugated to the cells via a highly efficient, copper-free click reaction, thereby enabling covalent membrane anchoring.
This approach achieved rapid and specific stem cell labeling within 3 h, with an efficiency of 83.1% ± 0.67. The labeling process did not impair BMSC viability or multilineage differentiation potential. The Au-star-DBCO-labeled BMSCs generated strong, concentration-dependent PA signals both in vitro and in a rat subcutaneous model, and enabled dynamic monitoring for at least 72 h post-transplantation. The specificity of the bioorthogonal reaction provided a significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio than passive uptake methods.
A biocompatible and efficient platform for stem cell tracking was successfully established by integrating metabolic glycoengineering, bioorthogonal chemistry, and nanostar-enhanced PA imaging. This strategy overcomes key limitations of traditional endocytosis-based labeling, and offers a rapid, specific, and functional cell-compatible tool for sensitive, longitudinal in vivo monitoring. This platform may advance precise assessment of cell therapies and facilitate their clinical application.
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ISSN 2712-0074
eISSN 2712-0082
Renhao Xu, Yanmei Cai and Xiaobin Dong et al. Rapid and Specific Cell-Surface Anchoring of Gold Nanostars for Photoacoustic BMSC Imaging.
BIOI. 2026. Vol. 7(1). DOI: 10.15212/bioi-2026-0012
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