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Development of nanochemical tools targeting receptors in the tumor microenvironment
Blažková, Kristýna ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Abramson, Jakub (referee) ; Bušek, Petr (referee)
Development of nanochemical tools targeting receptors in the tumor microenvironment Targeting the receptors in the tumor microenvironment is crucial for the future development of targeted therapies, precision medicine and immunotherapy of cancer. The options available now are, however, limited by the availability of specific ligands. The advances in the field strongly rely on the use of antibodies and genetic modifications of immune cells. Availability of small molecules targeting the receptors of interest would allow further development of alternative strategies as well as deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of cancer development, progression and clearance. In the search for new small-molecule ligands and their use for receptor targeting, the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and the immune receptors CD3 and CD64 were selected as model targets. The selected method - the phage display of bicyclic peptides - utilizes chemical modification of the displayed three-cysteine peptides to achieve their cyclization and formation of bicycles. The panning of a peptide library displayed on the phages and probed with PSMA revealed a reproducibly-selected amino acid sequence. Interestingly, the phage clone carrying this sequence was a specific binder of PSMA, but the synthesized peptide alone...
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Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II as a Drug Target and a Molecular Address for Cancer Treatment
Knedlík, Tomáš ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Stiborová, Marie (referee) ; Souček, Pavel (referee)
Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), also known as prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), is a membrane metallopeptidase overexpressed on most prostate cancer cells. Additionally, GCPII also attracted neurologists' attention because it cleaves neurotransmitter N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate (NAAG). Since NAAG exhibits neuroprotective effects, GCPII may participate in a number of brain disorders, which were shown to be ameliorated by GCPII selective inhibitors. Therefore, GCPII has become a promising target for imaging and prostate cancer targeted therapy as well as therapy of neuronal disorders. Globally, prostate cancer represents the second most prevalent cancer in men. With the age, most men will develop prostate cancer. However, prostate tumors are life threatening only if they escape from the prostate itself and start to spread to other tissues. Therefore, considerable efforts have been made to discover tumors earlier at more curable stages as well as to target aggressive metastatic cancers that have already invaded other tissues and become resistant to the standard treatment. Since patients undergoing a conventional therapy (a combination of chemotherapy and surgery) suffer from severe side effects, more effective ways of treatment are being searched for. Novel approaches include selective...
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