Fluorescent probes for detection and bioimaging of leucine aminopeptidase

Leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) is one of important proteolytic enzymes and closely related with pathogenesis of cancer and liver injury. Determination of LAP activity in serum is used clinically for liver disorder diagnosis. The level of expressed LAP is very low in normal cells, but overexpressed in tumors and liver diseases, especially drug-induced hepatitis. LAP has become a predictive biomarker for many cancers and diverse physiological processes. Therefore, in situ dynamic monitoring and identifying intracellular LAP is imperative for LAP-related disease diagnosis. This review focuses on LAP-specific fluorescence imaging probes for the detection and tracking of intracellular LAP actively in vitro and in vivo. The progress suggests that fluorescence imaging is a vital and rapidly growing technology for early diagnosis of tumors.