A G‐Quadruplex‐Activated Near‐Infrared Chemiluminescent Probe for In Situ Hepatic Imaging of the Hepatitis C Virus Genome

Abstract

ABSTRACT Real‐time monitoring of viral replication is essential for infectious disease diagnosis and antiviral drug development. The G‐quadruplex (G4), a conserved regulatory element within viral genomes, represents a significant endogenous biomarker for tracking viral activity. However, imaging viral G4s in deep tissues remains a challenge for current optical technologies due to severe photon attenuation and autofluorescence. Herein, we report Lumin680, the first near‐infrared (NIR) chemiluminescent probe directly activated by conserved viral G4 conformations. Its chemiluminescence was triggered by parallel G4, emitting in the NIR optical window (680 nm) with a 104.6‐fold signal enhancement. Notably, the luminescence of Lumin680 could penetrate up to 1.2 cm of biological tissue, outperforming traditional G4 fluorescent probe. In vivo, Lumin680 enabled the rapid visualization of orthotopic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome RNA‐presenting mini‐organ within 5 min post‐intravenous administration. Furthermore, the chemiluminescent intensity of Lumin680 quantitatively mapped the therapeutic efficacy of clinical direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) at both the cellular and whole‐animal levels, exhibiting high concordance with the gold‐standard quantitative RT‐PCR (qPCR). This study not only provides a powerful G4 specific chemiluminescent tool but also establishes a novel paradigm for the non‐invasive, in situ diagnosis and precise therapeutic monitoring of viral infections.