Developing proprietary fluorescent probes targeting high grade gliomas into useful tools for oncosurgery and theranostic

We patented (PCT/IB2022/053216) a class of fluorescent aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 (ALDH1A3) inhibitors that selectively label human cancer stem cells expressing ALDH1A3. We showed that our molecules selectively bind to recombinant ALDH1A3 and identify in vitro and in vivo ALDH1A3 positive cancer stem cells in many human cancers from high grade gliomas to mesotheliomas. The aims of our project are: 1) increasing the number of in vivo models for testing the efficiency of tumor identification while implementing dose toxicity studies of our molecules. 2) Exploiting our patented molecules to design novel fluorescent substrates targeting ALDH1A3 and other ALDH1A family members that are overexpressed in tumors. 3) complexing our compounds with gadolinium to generate novel highly specific theranostic agents for neutron capture therapy. These experiments will be essential to demonstrate to potential investor/developers that our compounds have a strong potential for translational applications.