Globes [online] is reporting that an Israeli biotech NeuroSurvival Technologies Ltd. (NST) has raised $5 million from Meditech, a venture capital firm. NST has developed technology called ApoSense™, that identifies cells undergoing apoptotic process, a programmed cellular death, and allows binding and accumulation of specific markers within these cells in vivo.
Here’s how the technology works:
ApoSense™ is a set of original, small, rationally-designed molecules, specially designed for clinical use. The ApoSense™ technology is based on a thorough analysis of the apoptotic process, coupled with the implementation of molecular nanotechnology concepts, as follows:
An original characterization, by NST, of a set of changes in cell membrane that differentiate between normal and apoptotic cells. This set of features is termed the “cellular fingerprints of apoptosis”. Based on this original characterization, ApoSense™ molecules were designed as multi-functional non-peptide molecules, capable of selectively detecting these “cellular fingerprints of apoptosis”. ApoSense™ biological activity is based on NSTs’ original “Interfacial NanoSwitch™” concept, whereby a molecular switch is activated upon recognition of apoptotic cell membrane features, allowing the ApoSense™ molecule to bind to the apoptotic cell membrane and enter and accumulate within the cell.
ApoSense™ detects the apoptotic cell from the early stages of the death process. Its recognition of the apoptotic cell is universal, irrespective of cell type or apoptotic trigger. Importantly, ApoSense™ has a modular structure, allowing for versatile attachment of various imaging moieties for clinical imaging or of a drug to be targeted into apoptosis-inflicted cells and tissues. The ApoSense™ technology is applicable to various imaging modalities. One type of imaging marker was a fluorophor attached to ApoSense™ , Fl- ApoSense™ , allowing for its fluorescence detection upon binding to apoptotic cells. In another study, a tritium-labeled compound, 3H- ApoSense™ was used to allow for sensitive and quantitative measurement of ApoSense™ uptake. For In Vivo clinical molecular imaging, ApoSense™ was labeled with 18F radioactive isotope , 18F- ApoSense™ , allowing its detection by the positron emission tomography…
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