Fluorescent ChoKα inhibitor lights up lung tumors during canine surgery
- JAS239 links a near-infrared dye to a choline kinase alpha inhibitor (overexpressed in many lung cancers) to mark tumors and margins at resection.
- In lung cancer cells it cut phosphocholine production and viability; in mice, pharmacokinetics suited imaging metastases.
- In dogs it outlined tumors and margins and revealed an occult lesion missed at resection; signal tracked ChoKα levels; human tissue painting showed preferential tumor uptake.
💡 Points
A glowing tumor is not yet proof of target engagement. Tracking with expression is encouraging, but a blocking-dose or dye-only control would show whether the signal reflects ChoKα binding or a lipophilic dye pooling in tissue. Spontaneous canine tumors are a far better test than mouse models; for people, injection timing and false positives at the margin remain unresolved.