EuroNanoMed 3 - Imaging and Inhibitor Probe for Alzheimer's disease Diagnostic and Treatment
Several dysfunctions may affect the brain, leading to a huge burden on individuals and on society, with 260 million European citizens having some form of neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Their socio-economic costs are huge. In 2010, their costs in EU member states and associated countries were estimated to be approx. EUR 800 billion. Along with demographic change, ND represent one of the major societal challenges in Europe and worldwide. Among ND, the most frequent is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alone, AD would affect 14 million of Europeans by 2040 with a cost of about EUR 140 billion in care per year. This pathology is characterized by abnormal accumulation of 2 proteins or fragments in the brain: a segment of APP “amyloid protein precursor” Aβ and Tau protein. They form characteristic brain lesions: (i) amyloid plaques outside neurons, and (ii) neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) inside neurons, respectively. So far, there is no proven effective/curative treatment. Clinical trials focusing on these 2 proteins still raise a lot of hope but have not proved to be conclusive. A phase 2 European clinical trial targeting pathological forms of Tau protein showed an effect only in pre-symptomatic patients. Thus, strategies inhibiting Tau aggregation are promising for slowing down the disease, or as preventive therapy.
I2PAD proposal is to build new “theranostic” probes that will integrate within the same tool a therapeutic ability and will serve as radiopharmaceutical PET-probes for molecular imaging of AD. Our probes will be built from peptides inhibiting Tau aggregation for therapeutic purposes. Lead peptides will be combined to radionuclides (RN) for molecular PET imaging to develop an early diagnosis critical for the earliest detection of AD pathology and timely initiation of therapy.
This project fully matches the priorities of EuroNanoMed by focusing on diagnosis and targeted delivery systems with characterisation and validation of biomarkers as multimodal imaging agents for early diagnosis; standardized procedures for the characterization of nanomaterials for medical purposes. I2PAD relies on the development, translation and evaluation of molecular probes further tagged with scandium/copper radionuclides. They will permit an earlier diagnosis and extended staging compared to currently available PET radionuclides (18F, 68Ga). For AD, there is a need to identify biomarkers affected by the progression of the disease before any clinical presentation. These tools are developed to better stratify patients before therapies, to select candidates, and to avoid both toxicity and cost of an ineffective therapy. While securing a large-scale and cost-effective production of Sc/Cu for further delivery to hospitals, I2PAD will use the imaging characteristics of 44/44mSc/61/64Cu and later on the “theranostic” properties of 47Sc/64Cu, associated to these probes, to contribute to reduce healthcare costs, to promote patient-specific treatment planning personalised medicine and safe targeted therapy, and to improve patients’ quality of life.
Termin realizacji projektu:
2022.04.01 – 2025.03.31
83%
Źródło dofinansowania:
Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju – EuroNanoMed 3
Dotacja dla OR POLATOM (NCBJ):
843 718,72 PLN
Projekt międzynarodowy:
EuroNanoMed III JTC 2021 – „European Innovative Research & Technological Development Projects in Nanomedicine”
Partnerzy konsorcjum międzynarodowego:
- Inserm, Research Institute for Environmental and Occupational Health, France
- Université de Nantes, France
- Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux énergies renouvelables (CEA), France
- Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Romania
- Charles University (Universita Karlova), Czech Republic
- Centrum Wysokich Technologii w Świerku Hitec Świerk Sp. z o.o., Poland
Projekt krajowy realizuje NCBJ wraz z CENTRUM WYSOKICH TECHNOLOGII W ŚWIERKU “HITEC ŚWIERK” Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością.
Rola OR POLATOM (NCBJ) w projekcie:
Lider
Kierownik projektu:
prof. dr inż. Renata Mikołajczak
Oficjalna strona projektu: