FLGS-01. Development of novel topical fluorescent probe for intraoperative rapid detection of glioma

Abstract

Abstract PURPOSE Fluorescence imaging is an important surgical adjunct in malignant glioma surgery. 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) has been proven effective for radical tumor resection and extended progression-free survival in a phase III randomized trial and therefore integrated into surgery for malignant glioma. Importantly, however, some limitations still exist in its use, which include false positivity and false negativity as well as inability of re-administration. In this study, we aimed to develop a novel, spray-type fluorescent probe using hydroxymethyl rhodamine green (HMRG) as a fluorescent scaffold. METHODS We have previously established a fluorescent probe library comprised of more than 320 kinds of HMRG probes. They have HMRG as a fluorescent scaffold with various types of dipeptides attached to it. Primary probe screening was performed using the homogenized tumor samples from patients with glioblastoma operated at our institution. Secondary screening followed using the selected probes and fresh tumor samples obtained from patients with glioblastoma operated from 2016 until 2018. Diced electrophoresis gel (DEG) assay, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by a multi-well plate-based fluorometric assay, was performed to identify responsible enzymes for the selected probe. Further experiments with inhibitors, real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry, and western blotting were performed for confirmation. RESULTS Proline-arginine-HMRG (PR-HMRG) was selected as a candidate probe based upon the above two-step screenings. It achieved 79.4% accuracy in receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Calpain-1 was found to be responsible to cleave PR-HMRG probe by DEG-proteome analysis. Calpain-1 protein was highly expressed in tumor tissues which reacted to PR-HMRG probe. CONCLUSIONS Our innovative screening method was able to find PR-HMRG as a novel fluorescent probe effective for rapid detection of glioblastoma. A preclinical study is planned to assess the efficacy and safety of the selected probe.