Christin Neuber

• PhD
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The inducible enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and the subsequent synthesis of eicosanoids initiated by this enzyme are important molecular players in bone healing. In this pilot study, the suitability of a novel selective COX-2 inhibitor bearing a nitric oxide (NO)-releasing moiety was investigated as a modulator of healing a critical-size bone def...

The selection and optimization of therapies for cancer patients urgently need personalization. Portable point‐of‐care electronic biosensors emerge as a groundbreaking solution contributing to better decision‐making in precision oncology. In this study, the innovative use of extended‐gate field‐effect‐transistor (EG‐FET) biosensors is showcased for...

The Al¹⁸F-labeling approach offers a one-step access to radiofluorinated biomolecules by mimicking the labeling process for radiometals. Although these labeling conditions are considered to be mild compared to classic radiofluorinations, improvements of the chelating units have led to the discovery of (±)-H3RESCA, which allows Al¹⁸F-labeling alread...

Selection and optimization of therapies for cancer patients urgently needs personalization. Portable point-of-care electronic biosensors emerge as a groundbreaking solution to contribute to better decision-making in precision oncology. This study showcases the innovative use of extended gate field-effect transistor (EG-FET) biosensors to monitor th...

Discussed are two picolinate appended bispidine ligands (3,7‐diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane derivatives) in comparison with an earlier described bis‐pyridine derivative, which are all known to strongly bind CuII. The radiopharmacological characterization of the two isomeric bispidine complexes includes quantitative labeling with ⁶⁴CuII at ambient condit...

Background Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells are a promising approach in cancer immunotherapy, particularly for treating hematologic malignancies. Yet, their effectiveness is limited when tackling solid tumors, where immune cell infiltration and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments (TME) are major hurdles. Fibroblast activation protein (...

The understanding of the contribution of the tumour microenvironment to cancer progression and metastasis, in particular the interplay between tumour cells, fibroblasts and the extracellular matrix has grown tremendously over the last years. Lysyl oxidases are increasingly recognised as key players in this context, in addition to their function as...

Background Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells are a promising approach in cancer immunotherapy, particularly for treating hematologic malignancies. Yet, their effectiveness is limited when tackling solid tumors, where immune cell infiltration and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments (TME) are major hurdles. Fibroblast activation protein (...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) led to millions of infections and deaths worldwide. As this virus evolves rapidly, there is a high need for treatment options that can win the race against new emerging variants of concern. Here, we describe a novel immunotherapeu...

Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is an excellent target for imaging and treatment of prostate carcinoma (PCa). Unfortunately, not all PCa cells express PSMA. Therefore, alternative theranostic targets are required. The membrane protein prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) is highly overexpressed in most primary prostate carcinoma (PCa) cells...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is still an incurable tumor that is associated with high recurrence rate and poor survival despite the current treatment regimes. With the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies, immunotherapies, especially chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-expressing T cells, represent a promising approach for specific and effective targetin...

Although chronic inflammation inhibits bone healing, the healing process is initiated by an inflammatory phase. In a well-tuned sequence of molecular events, pro-inflammatory cytokines are secreted to orchestrate the inflammation response to injury and the recruitment of progenitor cells. These events in turn activate the secretion of anti-inflamma...

Bone in diabetes mellitus is characterized by an altered microarchitecture caused by abnormal metabolism of bone cells. Together with diabetic neuropathy, this is associated with serious complications including impaired bone healing culminating in complicated fractures and dislocations, especially in the lower extremities, so-called Charcot neuroar...

Ligands combining a bis(phosphonate) group with a macrocycle function as metal isotope carriers for radionuclide-based imaging and for treating bone metastases associated with several cancers. However, bis(phosphonate) pendant arms often...

Due to its overexpression on the surface of prostate cancer (PCa) cells, the prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) is a potential target for PCa diagnosis and therapy. Here we describe the development and functional characterization of a novel IgG4-based anti-PSCA antibody (Ab) derivative (anti-PSCA IgG4-TM) that is conjugated with the chelator DOTAGA....

Knowledge of the physiological and pathological processes, taking place in bone during fracture healing or defect regeneration, is essential in order to develop strategies to enhance bone healing under normal and critical conditions. Preclinical testing allows a wide range of imaging modalities that may be applied both simultaneously and longitudin...

The transamidase activity of transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) is considered to be important for several pathophysiological processes including fibrotic and neoplastic tissue growth, whereas in healthy cells this enzymatic function is predominantly latent. Methods that enable the highly sensitive detection of TGase 2, such as application of radiolabeled...

In a previous study, EphB4 was demonstrated to be a positive regulator of A375-melanoma growth but a negative regulator of tumor vascularization and perfusion. To distinguish between EphB4 forward and ephrinB2 reverse signaling, we used the commercially available EphB4 kinase inhibitor NVP-BHG712 (NVP), which was later identified as its regioisomer...

The inducible isoenzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is closely associated with chemo-/radioresistance and poor prognosis of solid tumors. Therefore, COX-2 represents an attractive target for functional characterization of tumors by positron emission tomography (PET). In this study, the celecoxib derivative 3-([¹⁸F]fluoromethyl)-1-[4-(methylsulfonyl)ph...

In the past decade, there have been extensive efforts to open up the Eph/ephrin subfamily of the receptor tyrosine kinase family for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Besides classical pharmaceutical developments, which focus either on drugs targeting the extracellular ligand binding domains or on the intracellular tyrosine kinase domains of...

Resorbable biomaterials based on artificial extracellular matrices (aECM) represent promising scaffolds for the treatment of large bone defects. Here, we investigated various glycosaminoglycan (GAG) derivatives of varying sulfation degree with respect to their influence on in vivo bone healing. The materials used in this study consisted of GAG-coat...

Direct interaction of the sigma-1 ( σ1) receptor, an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone located in close vicinity to the mitochondrion, with a variety of proteins involved in essential processes regulating proliferation, survival, and death of cells, indicates a role of this protein in tumor biology. Since tumor therapies address precisely these proce...

Bone defects of critical size after compound fractures, infections, or tumor resections are a challenge in treatment. Particularly, this applies to bone defects in patients with impaired bone healing due to frequently occurring metabolic diseases (above all diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis), chronic inflammation, and cancer. Adjuvant therapeutic...

Eph receptor tyrosine kinases, particularly EphA2 and EphB4, represent promising candidates for molecular imaging due to their essential role in cancer progression and therapy resistance. Xanthine derivatives were identified to be potent Eph receptor inhibitors with IC50 values in the low nanomolar range (1-40 nm). These compounds occupy the hydrop...

Nanosniffers to track down cancer: in article number 1905013, Kristof Zarschler, Holger Stephan, and co‐workers design and synthesize functionalized bimodal probes for diagnostic cancer imaging. These renally excretible, actively targeted nanomaterials specifically detect their molecular target and show superior tumor accumulation in vivo.

Active tumor targeting involves the decoration of nanomaterials (NMs) with oncotropic vector biomolecules that selectively recognize certain antigens on malignant cells or in the tumor microenvironment. This strategy can facilitate intracellular uptake of NM through specific interactions such as receptor‐mediated endocytosis and can lead to prolong...

Biomaterials coated with artificial extracellular matrices (aECM) are intended to support the healing of critical size bone defects. This pilot study investigated (i) the feasibility of dual tracer PET/CT imaging for functional characterization of biomaterial-assisted bone healing in a rat femoral defect model and (ii) the bone healing ability of p...

The treatment of critical-size bone defects following complicated fractures, infections or tumor resections is a major challenge. The same applies to fractures in patients with impaired bone healing due to systemic inflammatory and metabolic diseases. Despite considerable progress in development and establishment of new surgical techniques, design...

In this third in a series of reviews on adjuvant drug-assisted bone healing, further possibilities of influencing the healing process are discussed. Local and systemic modulation of bone metabolism is considered during use of a number of drugs with completely different indications, which are characterized by a pleiotropic spectrum of action. These...

Critical-size bone defects after compound fractures, infection, or tumor resection are challenging to treat. The same is true for fractures in patients with impaired bone healing due to metabolic diseases and cancer. Despite considerable progress over the last decade in surgical techniques, material design, and dedicated imaging approaches, these s...

BACKGROUND Malignant melanoma is the most malignant skin neoplasm due to early metastasis and resistance to currently available therapies. Inflammatory tumor infiltrate, particularly macrophages, are of outstanding importance for melanoma progression and therapy response. EphB4 receptor and its preferred ligand EphrinB2 are also associated with mel...

EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase fulfils various functions in the development of cancers. Here we analyzed how regulation of EphA2 receptor influences metastatic properties in human melanoma cells in vitro and lung metastasis in vivo. Further, we investigated whether the effects are mediated by Src kinase/focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling downstr...

Radiolabeled α‐melanocyte stimulating hormone (α‐MSH) derivatives have a high potential for diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, due to high specificity and binding affinity to the melanocortin‐1 receptor (MC1R). Hence, the α‐MSH‐derived peptide NAP‐NS1 with a β‐Ala linker (ε‐Ahx‐β‐Ala‐Nle‐Asp‐His‐D‐Phe‐Arg‐Trp‐Gly‐NH2) was conjugated to different...

An O‐methyltyrosine‐containing azadipeptide nitrile was synthesised and investigated for its inhibitory activity towards cathepsins L, S, K and B. Labelling with carbon‐11 was accomplished by reaction of the corresponding phenolic precursor with [11C]methyl iodide starting from cyclotron‐produced [11C]methane. Radiopharmacological evaluation of the...

The interaction of S100 proteins (S100s), a multigenic family of Ca²⁺-binding and Ca²⁺-modulated proteins, with pattern recognition receptors, e.g., Toll-like receptors (TLRs), the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), or scavenger receptors (SR), is hypothesized to be of high relevance in the pathogenesis of various diseases. This i...

ABSTRACT Physiological and pathophysiological functions of the phospholipase A2 receptor 1 (PLA2R1) are still not completely understood. To elucidate PLA2R1’s function in prostate carcinoma, the receptor was ectopically overexpressed in LNCaP with silenced PLA2R1, and diminished in PC-3 cells with constitutively increased PLA2R1 expression relative...

Accumulating evidence suggests an unequivocal role of lysyl oxidases as key players of tumor progression and metastasis, which renders this enzyme family highly attractive for targeted non-invasive functional imaging of tumors. Considering their function in matrix remodeling, malignant melanoma appears as particularly interesting neoplasia in this...

Sigma-1 receptors (Sig1R) are highly expressed in various human cancer cells and hence imaging of this target with positron emission tomography (PET) can contribute to a better understanding of tumor pathophysiology and support the development of antineoplastic drugs. Two Sig1R-specific radiolabeled enantiomers (S)-(−)-and (R)-(+)-[ 18 F]fluspidine...

Experimental evidence has associated receptor tyrosine kinase EphB4 with tumor angiogenesis also in malignant melanoma. Considering the limited in vivo data available, we have conducted a systematic multitracer and multimodal imaging investigation in EphB4-overexpressing and mock-transfected A375 melanoma xenografts. Tumor growth, perfusion, and hy...

High COX-2 expression is associated with tumor progression and poor treatment response. Imaging of functional COX-2 expression by PET would provide beneficial information for theranostics. Here we describe precursor synthesis and radiolabeling attempts of (dihydro)pyrrolo[3,2,1-hi]indoles [18F]DHPI and [18F]PI, two novel tricyclic COX-2 inhibitors....

Hydrogels based on gelatin have evolved as promising multifunctional biomaterials. Gelatin is crosslinked with lysine diisocyanate ethyl ester (LDI) and the molar ratio of gelatin and LDI in the starting material mixture determines elastic properties of the resulting hydrogel. In order to investigate the clinical potential of these biopolymers, hyd...

Supplementary figures.

Gold surfaces functionalized with nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni2 +-NTA) as self-assembled monolayers (SAM) to immobilize histidine (His)-tagged biomolecules are broadly reported in the literature. However, the increasing demand of using microfluidic systems and biosensors takes more and more advantage on silicon technology which provides dedicat...

Survivors of Hodgkin's disease as well as of breast and lung cancer are at risk of radiation-associated cardiovascular disease. Recent studies demonstrated a correlation between cardiovascular risk factors and circulating endothelial microparticles (EMP) and thereby suggest increased EMP levels in circulation to be an early biomarker of endothelial...

We report the syntheses and evaluation of series of novel piperidine compounds with low lipophilicity as σ1 receptor ligands. 8-(4-(2-Fluoroethoxy)benzyl)-1,4-dioxa-8-azaspiro[4.5]decane (5a) possessed high affinity (Ki = 5.4 ± 0.4 nM) for σ1 receptors and selectivity for σ2 receptors (30-fold) and the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (1404-fold...

We report the synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of indole-based σ2 receptor ligands derived from siramesine. In vitro competition binding assays showed that these analogues possessed high to moderate affinity and selectivity for σ2 receptors. Structure-affinity relationship analyses of these indole-based σ2 receptor ligands were perfo...

Members of the Eph receptor tyrosine kinase family play essential roles in the pathogenesis of cancer and are therefore promising candidates for molecular imaging by positron emission tomography (PET), for example. In this regard, radiochemical access to novel PET radiotracers derived from potent inhibitors that target the EphB4 kinase domain and w...

Eph receptors and their ephrin ligands were identified in the late 1980's. Subsequently, they were linked to different physiological and pathophysiological processes like embryonic development, angiogenesis, and tumorigenesis. In this regard, recent work focused on the distribution and effects of Eph receptors and ephrins on tumor cells and tumor m...