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Ligand Directed NIR-based Theranostic Prodrugs for Prostate Cancer

Project description

Ligand-directed NIR-based theranostic prodrugs for prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is currently the most common cancer in men and remains the leading cause of death. Current strategies still carry severe side effects and offer limited benefits to the patient, associated with non-specific delivery of an anticancer drug to the target tissue. The EU-funded ClickandTreatCancer project is working on developing a strategy to deliver anticancer drugs selectively to prostate cancer cells while monitoring in real-time drug release and efficacy in vivo. The project entails the creation of a protocol based on a DT-diaphorase-activated, DUPA-guided model combined with cancer cell elimination by near-infrared (NIR) light-regulated theranostic strategy. The technology shows great promise in that it can easily be adapted for the treatment of other cancer types.

Objective

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Prostate cancer (PC) is currently the most common male malignancy and remains the leading cause of death. Despite advances in chemotherapy, current strategies still carry severe side effects and offer limited benefit to the patient. Two main reasons behind these limitations include 1) non-specific delivery of anticancer drug to the target tissue and 2) poor diagnosis at an early stage of the disease. Thus, there is an urgent need for a novel and modular theranostic platform to deliver drugs selectively to cancer tissues and simultaneously follow therapeutic efficacy through non-invasive imaging techniques. Herein we propose a DT-diaphorase activated, DUPA guided NIR-based theranostic strategy to deliver anticancer drug selectively to prostate cancer cells while monitoring in real-time drug release and efficacy in vivo. The developing tool is novel and modular, enabling the use of various triggers, drugs and targeting agents. The fluorophore signal is expected to fall in the NIR region (>600 nm) and the scaffold with enable as real-time monitoring of drug release in vivo, as well as the introduction of targeting groups in order to improve the specificity of the theranostic agents towards cancer cells. The development of this technology can provide an invaluable platform that can be easily adapted for the treatment of different cancer types. It is likely that the directness and modularity of this novel approach will have a strong impact in the field of targeted drug-delivery for treating and monitoring in real-time drug effectiveness.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinator

INSTITUTO DE MEDICINA MOLECULAR JOAO LOBO ANTUNES
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 159 815,04
Address
AVENIDA PROF EGAS MONIZ
1649 028 Lisboa
Portugal

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Region
Continente Área Metropolitana de Lisboa Área Metropolitana de Lisboa
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Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 159 815,04
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