Nuclear-Shell Biopolymers Initiated by Telomere Elongation for Individual Cancer Cell Imaging and Drug Delivery.

Here, we propose a strategy for unique nuclear-shell biopolymers initiated by telomere elongation for telomerase activity detection and precise drug delivery to individual cancer cells. Telomerase-triggered DNA rolling-circle amplification (RCA) is used to assemble nuclear-shell biopolymers with signal molecules for selective cancer cell recognition and efficient drug delivery to targeted individual cells. This strategy not only should allow the creation of clustered 5-carboxyfluorescein (FAM)-fluorescence spots in response to human-telomerase activity in individual cancer cells but also could efficiently deliver drugs to reduce the undesired death of healthy cells. These findings offer new opportunities to improve the efficacy of cancer cell imaging and therapy.