Zhang_2021_Chem.Phys.Lett_785_139143

Carboxylesterase 2 as a critical hydrolase, current studies are limited to its role in prodrug metabolism while functional studies found that pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is associated with expression differences of this enzyme. However, it lacks of organelle level assessment of carboxylesterase 2 activity in the fluorescent tools. Herein, we develop a fluorescent probe (NI-MO) that achieves selective visualization of human lysosomal carboxylesterase 2 in living cells to distinguish PAAD and normal cells, which provide a new avenue to guide pancreatic adenocarcinoma profiling. Notably, we constructed a high-throughput screening approach to rapidly screen the potential inhibitors through carboxylesterase 2 activity.