Direct Monitoring of Cancer-Associated mRNAs in Living Cells to Evaluate the Therapeutic RNAi Efficiency Using Fluorescent Nanosensor

Cancer-associated mRNA (mRNA) is an important biomarker for early diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of treatment responses. Despite recent developments in fluorescence live cell imaging, reliable detection and quantification of mRNA in living cells still remain challenging due to a complicated intracellular environment. Herein, we present a fluorescent nanosensor for live-cell monitoring of cancer-related mRNAs involved in the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. The nanosensor enables rapid and accurate assessment of gene downregulation efficiency in a dose- and time-dependent manner by measuring quantitative fluorescence signal corresponding to β-catenin or its target mRNA levels in living cells. It is expected that the fluorescent nanosensor will be applicable to high-throughput screening for the efficient drug discovery and insightful understanding of the molecular mechanisms of potential drug candidate for cancer treatment.