Development of a novel glioma-specific therapeutic and imaging agent.

• Applicant: Dr. Niklas von Spreckelsen
• Subject Area: Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology
• Term: from 2018 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 400975596

Malignant brain tumors are incurable, deadly cancers, and are associated with very poor patient outcome. Aggressive brain cancer cells invade into the surrounding normal brain tissue and are impossible to remove by surgery. Current treatment strategies have also demonstrated limited success because many commonly used anti-cancer drugs are not able to enter the brain. Furthermore, the lack of brain imaging strategies to help oncologists accurately assess tumor progression non-invasively poses a major challenge in long-term clinical management of the disease. This leaves us with an urgent need to develop improved imaging agents and therapeutics that can selectively recognize and target brain cancer cells. By identifying specific and unique molecules (signatures) that can distinguish brain cancer cells, we should be able to target only the tumor cells without harming normal brain tissues. A protein called B/bΔg is an ideal target because it is present only in human brain cancer cells, and is absent from normal brain tissues. Here, we describe the development of a “smart” peptide (short protein), known as BTP-7 that can identify and bind specifically to B/bΔg on the surface of brain tumor cells, and thus serve as a highly promising tumor-targeting agent. This proposal, describes our plan to chemically fuse BTP-7 to a chemotherapeutic drug or imaging agent to enable high-payloaddelivery to brain tumors. Findings from the proposed research could lead to the development of a specific chemotherapy that can dramatically increase treatment efficacy of brain tumors while reducing unwanted toxicity. Coupled with an imaging-agent it could improve medical assessment and disease management throughout followup.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Hosts: Professor Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca; Professor Sean Edward Lawler, Ph.D.