Publication in a top rated drug delivery journal by PĂĄl K. Selbo and co-workers
The manuscript by Selbo et al. entitled “Strongly amphiphilic photosensitizers are not substrates of the cancer stem cell marker ABCG2 and provides specific and efficient light-triggered drug delivery of an EGFR-targeted cytotoxic drug” was published in Journal of Controlled Release (journal impact factor: 7.164), which is ranked as number 10 of 252 journals in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy category (the 9 on top are review journals) making it a highly influential original research journal in the pharmaceutics, biomaterials, and drug delivery fields.
A brief summary of the findings, by the authors:
A new light sensitive drug (photosensitizer), named TPCS2a, developed in the Kristian Berg lab at the Department of Radiation Biology and used in a Phase I clinical study was found to be a non-substrate of the efflux pump and cancer stem cell marker ABCG2. TPCS2a is an important component of the drug delivery technology photochemical internalization (PCI). Hence, the study paves the way for PCI-based targeting of cancer stem cells. PCI is based on the photochemical induced oxidation of endocytic vesicles. The rupture of these organelles results in an endo-lysosomal release of the entrapped drug of interest, which may react with its intracellular target (e.g. shutting down protein synthesis).
| Illustration of the principles of the PCI techology In photochemical internalization, a drug (D) and a photosensitizer (S) are introduced into cells. Photochemical activation of S releases D into the cytosol, where it can bind to its target (image from K. Berg) |
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Pål K. Selbo is a principal investigator of the project “Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells by Photochemical Internalization” and is affiliated with PCI Biotech, the Cancer Stem Cell Innovation Center (SFI-CAST) and the PCI-group of Kristian Berg at the Department of Radiation Biology at the Institute for Cancer Research. The project is financed by PCI Biotech AS, Norwegian Research Council and the Norwegian Radium Hospital Research Foundation.
Links:
Strongly amphiphilic photosensitizers are not substrates of the cancer stem cell marker ABCG2 and provides specific and efficient light-triggered drug delivery of an EGFR-targeted cytotoxic drug.
Selbo PK, Weyergang A, Eng MS, Bostad M, Mælandsmo GM, Høgset A, Berg K.
J Control Release. 2012 Feb 10. [Epub ahead of print]
Pål Selbo page
SFI-CAST
Department of Radiation Biology