Anna Mestre Borras

Ms. Anna Mestre Borras


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

5Years (2022-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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31 May 2022 in Biomedicines
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SRSara Rinne
Sara Rinne
WYWen Yin
Wen Yin
ABAnna Mestre Borras
Anna Mestre Borras
AAAyman Abouzayed
Ayman Abouzayed
CLCharles Dahlsson Leitao
Charles Dahlsson Leitao
TGTorbjörn Gräslund
Torbjörn Gräslund
Increasing evidence suggests that therapy targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) could be a viable route for targeted cancer therapy. Here, we studied a novel drug conjugate, ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1, consisting of a HER3-targeting affibody molecule, coupled to the cytotoxic tubulin polymerization inhibitor DM1, and an albumin-binding domain for in vivo half-life extension. ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1 showed a strong affinity to the extracellular domain of HER3 (KD 6 nM), and an even stronger affinity (KD 0.2 nM) to the HER3-overexpressing pancreatic carcinoma cell line, BxPC-3. The drug conjugate showed a potent cytotoxic effect on BxPC-3 cells with an IC50 value of 7 nM. Evaluation of a radiolabeled version, [99mTc]Tc-ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1, showed a relatively high rate of internalization, with a 27% internalized fraction after 8 h. Further in vivo evaluation showed that it could target BxPC-3 (pancreatic carcinoma) and DU145 (prostate carcinoma) xenografts in mice, with an uptake peaking at 6.3 ± 0.4% IA/g at 6 h post-injection for the BxPC-3 xenografts. The general biodistribution showed uptake in the liver, lung, salivary gland, stomach, and small intestine, organs known to express murine ErbB3 naturally. The results from the study show that ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1 is a highly potent and selective drug conjugate with the ability to specifically target HER3 overexpressing cells. Further pre-clinical and clinical development is discussed.