Nordic Life Science 1
DENMARK SELF-LUMINOUS TISSUE FACILITATES TUMOR OP
ERATIONS A new technology developed at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, makes cancer tissue luminescent, and hence helps surgeons to detect and remove diseased tissue. ODAY, NORMAL WHITE light is used during operations. During a cancer operation the surgeon needs to remove both the cancer tumor and also the diseased tissue that surrounds the tumor in order to assure that the patient will not have a relapse after the surgery. In normal light it is hard to see the diseased tissue and therefore it may be difficult be sure that all that is harmful has been removed. “Therefore one usually remove the tumor and additional centimeters of tissue around it. In the bowel a couple of extra centimeters does not necessarily cause any harm, but extra centimeters in the brain means a risk of affecting important functions,” says Andreas Kjær, professor at the University of Copenhagen and chief physician at Rigshospitalet. The new technology has been developed within the project Fluoguide, initiated by a collaboration with Rigshospitalet, the University of Copenhagen and the company Fluoguide. A compound is injected into the blood and illuminates certain tissues during the surgery. The compound contains a fluorophore that binds to cancer cells expressing uPAR. The uPAR binding is mediated by a targeting molecule. Fluoguide’s targeting molecules bind rapidly to cancer cells but quickly disappear from the systemic circulation. Thus, the surgeon can see the uPAR expressing cancer already 30 minutes after injection. The first indication for FG001 is glioblastoma but FG001 has potential in several indications. NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG 93