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Validation of the use of a fluorescent PARP1 inhibitor for the detection of oral, oropharyngeal and oesophageal epithelial cancers

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 4, pages 272–285 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

For oral, oropharyngeal and oesophageal cancer, the early detection of tumours and of residual tumour after surgery are prognostic factors of recurrence rates and patient survival. Here, we report the validation, in animal models and a human, of the use of a previously described fluorescently labelled small-molecule inhibitor of the DNA repair enzyme poly(ADP–ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) for the detection of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and oesophagus. We show that the fluorescent contrast agent can be used to quantify the expression levels of PARP1 and to detect oral, oropharyngeal and oesophageal tumours in mice, pigs and fresh human biospecimens when delivered topically or intravenously. The fluorescent PARP1 inhibitor can also detect oral carcinoma in a patient when applied as a mouthwash, and discriminate between fresh biopsied samples of the oral tumour and the surgical resection margin with more than 95% sensitivity and specificity. The PARP1 inhibitor could serve as the basis of a rapid and sensitive assay for the early detection and for the surgical-margin assessment of epithelial cancers of the upper intestinal tract.

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Fig. 1: Study overview.
Fig. 2: PARP1 expression and imaging in oesophageal cancer.
Fig. 3: PARP1 expression and PARP cytometry in oropharyngeal cancer.
Fig. 4: PARP1 expression during malignant transition and at tumour margins in oral cancer.
Fig. 5: Rapid PARPi-FL staining on fresh biospecimens.
Fig. 6: Feasibility of microscopic and macroscopic in-human imaging of PARPi-FL.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files. Associated raw data and step-by-step protocols can be made available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The ImageJ macro for the automated analysis of PARP1 expression on immunohistochemistry slides is available on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Sahu and R. Giese for supporting the work at MSMC; J. Budrewicz for his support of the experiments at CBSet; N. Katabi for providing expertise in histopathology; V. Dokic for assistance during clinical work with PARPi-FL; and G. Scott and L. Bassity for editing the manuscript. We thank the Molecular Cytology Core Facility, Radiochemistry and Molecular Imaging Probes Core Facility, and Flow Cytometry Core Facility at MSKCC. Finally, we thank the participants of the blinded study, including (in alphabetical order): A. Schulman, A. Sahu, A. Bolaender, C. Mason, E. Pratt, C. Andreou, F. Nicolson, J. Berry, J. Goos, J. Gonzales, K. Henry, L. Carter, M. Jain, M. McGill, N. Guru, N. Sobol, P. R. Pereira, R. Mirsafavi, S. Roberts, S. Poty, S. Jannetti, T. Crawford, V. Nagle, X. (L.) Wu and A. Sadique. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 CA204441, P30 CA008748, R43 CA228815 and K99 CA218875 (to S.K.). We thank the Tow Foundation and the MSKCC Center for Molecular Imaging and Nanotechnology, Imaging and Radiation Sciences Program, and Molecularly Targeted Intraoperative Imaging Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Susanne Kossatz, Giacomo Pirovano, Paula Demétrio De Souza França, Arianna L. Strome, Brandon Carney, Christian Brand, Veer Shah & Thomas Reiner

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Susanne Kossatz

  3. Integrated Head and Neck Oncology Research Program, Mazumdar Shaw Medical Foundation, Narayana Health, Bengaluru, India

    Sumsum P. Sunny, Ravindra D. Ramanajinappa, Praveen Birur, Amritha Suresh & Moni A. Kuriakose

  4. Head and Neck Oncology, Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center, Narayana Health, Bengaluru, India

    Sumsum P. Sunny & Naveen Hedne

  5. Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Daniella Karassawa Zanoni, Smita Sihag, Daniela Molena, Ian Ganly & Snehal G. Patel

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Audrey Mauguen & Mithat Gönen

  7. Summit Biomedical Imaging, New York, NY, USA

    Christian Brand

  8. Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, KLES Institute of Dental Sciences, Bangalore, India

    Praveen Birur

  9. Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Ronald A. Ghossein

  10. Head and Neck Surgical Group, New York, NY, USA

    Marshall Strome

  11. Cochin Cancer Research Center, Kochi, India

    Moni A. Kuriakose

  12. Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Thomas Reiner

  13. Chemical Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Thomas Reiner

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  1. Susanne Kossatz
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Contributions

S.K., G.P., M.A.K., S.G.P. and T.R. conceived the study and designed the experiments. S.K., G.P., A.L.S., S.P.S., P.D.D.S.F., D.K.Z., C.B., R.A.G., V.S., P.B., N.H., R.D.R., A.S. and T.R. carried out the experiments and collected and analysed the data. S.K., S.P.S., P.D.D.S.F., D.K.Z., A.S., S.G.P. and T.R. wrote Institutional Research Board protocols. A.M., M.G., G.P. and S.K. conducted statistical analysis of the data. M.S. and M.A.K. contributed experimental or analysis tools. S.K. and T.R. wrote the manuscript. All authors carefully reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Reiner.

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Competing interests

S.K., S.G.P., C.B. and T.R. are shareholders of Summit Biomedical Imaging. S.K., S.G.P. and T.R. are co-inventors on filed US patent (WO2016164771), held by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, which covers methods of use for PARPi-FL. T.R. is a co-inventor on US patent (WO2012074840), held by the General Hospital Corporation, which covers the composition of PARPi-FL. B.C. and T.R. are co-inventors on the filed US patent (WO2016033293), held by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, which covers methods for the synthesis of [18F]PARPi. T.R. is a paid consultant for Theragnostics. M.S. is a co-founder of Aero-Di-Namics.

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Supplementary Information

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Reporting Summary

Supplementary Dataset 1

Blinded study training dataset.

Supplementary Dataset 2

Blinded study test dataset.

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Kossatz, S., Pirovano, G., Demétrio De Souza França, P. et al. Validation of the use of a fluorescent PARP1 inhibitor for the detection of oral, oropharyngeal and oesophageal epithelial cancers. Nat Biomed Eng 4, 272–285 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-0526-9

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