đ˘ Exciting News MITH Brussel and member of Advance Imaging PhD student Ĺukasz Mateusiak has just published an original research article in the Advanced Science, part of the prestigious Wiley Advanced portfolio.
Lukasz shares, âThis paper summarizes our efforts over the past few years, culminating in the development of a #fluorescent tracer that has shown promising preclinical results. What has been particularly exciting in this project is that #uPAR expression has historically been reported in various types of #cancer. This opens the door for developing a tracer whose application can extend across different cancer types. I am happy to make these data available to all in this #openaccess journal, and acknowledge that this achievement has been a team effort for which I am deeply grateful.â
The article details our journey in generating anti-uPAR #Nanobodies, performing in vitro characterization, and conducting in vivo testing with radiolabeled variants to assess pharmacokinetics and select lead compounds for anti-uPAR tracer development. We then converted these Nanobodies into fluorescent agents and evaluated their efficacy for #fluorescenceguidedsurgery across various tumor models. Within this study, we identified a panel of high-affinity anti-uPAR Nanobodies that specifically bind to different cancer types both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, in an orthotopic human #glioma model, the lead fluorescent compound demonstrated rapid and precise tumor localization and demarcation.
đ Read the full article here https://lnkd.in/ekTbN-5N
Special thanks to co-authors Sam Floru, Timo De Groof, Janne Wouters, Noemi Declerck, Pieterjan Debie, Simone Janssen, Katty Zeven, Janik Puttemans, CĂŠcile Vincke, Karine Breckpot, Nick Devoogdt, and Sophie Hernot for their invaluable contributions.
This work was supported by Stichting tegen Kanker - Fondation contre le Cancer, Research Foundation Flanders - FWO: Research Infrastructure program Hercules and Strategic Basic Research program, Strategic Research Program (SRP50 of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel), and Innovation Research Fund.