Sintesi e caratterizzazione di un agente di contrasto per le procedure in prostatectomia di "imaging guided surgery"

The high incidence observed in prostate cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death in men, has led to the importance of designing a therapeutic course for the patient to reduce the high morbidity and mortality associated with this pathology. It is then mandatory to develop new diagnostic methods , and in particular, more specific imaging tools to view and identify earlier the disease. Actually, the diagnostic strategy of prostate cancer is based on prostate - specific antigen in the blood (PSA), and the rectal exploration screening on guided biopsies, often accompanied by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or nuclear medicine examinations. Recently, it was claimed the use of fluorescent contrast agents to provide a real-time visual aid in surgical procedures to improve the therapeutic index. We prepared different optical imaging contrast agents for image-guided procedures of prostatectomy. Probes are constituted by a fluorescent molecule conjugated to a peptide BBN-like carrier able to selectively recognize the biomarker of the pathological process of prostate cancer: the receptors for GRP-R. We quantified the receptor binding affinity of all of the reported bioconjugates and showed that the carbocyanine dye conjugates of bombesin peptide analogues retained their receptor binding affinity in the micromolar range.