Imaging of Extracellular Proteases in Cells Using Mutant Anthrax Toxin Protective Antigens
The claimed invention provides highly specific and sensitive methods for in vivo, in vitro, or ex vivo imaging of specific extracellular protease activity using an anthrax binary toxin system. The system targets cells that express extracellular proteases of interest. Such a system would be highly useful since various studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between the activity of extracellular proteases and various diseases and undesirable physiological conditions.