A Nature-Inspired MOFs Discriminator for Differential Diagnosis of Cancer Cell Subtypes.

Metabolic glycan labeling (MGL) followed by bioorthogonal chemistry provides a powerful tool for tumor imaging and therapy. However, selectively metabolic labeling of cell or tissue of interest remains a challenge. Particularly, owing to tumor heterogeneity including tumor subtypes and inter-patient heterogeneity, it is far more difficult to realize tumor cell-selective metabolic labeling for precise diagnosis. Inspired by nature, herein, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-azidosugar camouflaged with cancer cell membranes is designed to accomplish cancer cell-selective MGL in vivo . With abundant receptors, this biomimetic platform not only selectively targets homotypic cells but also realizes different breast cancer subtype-selective MGL. Moreover, the endo/lysosomal-escaped ZIF-8 can make azidosugar escape from lysosomes and accelerate its metabolic incorporation. This strategy also takes advantages of cancer tissue-derived cell membranes, which may have huge potential for personalized diagnosis and therapy. We believe this biommetic strategy open a new avenue for precise diagnosis.