Alberto Dal Corso, Università degli Studi di Milano
mercoledì 19 maggio, 2021, ore 16:00, Webex
Per partecipare, cliccare sul seguente link: https://unimib.webex.com/unimib/j.php?MTID=m7d010ea095ce230875717ae8a6f06eea
Abstract: The covalent conjugation of potent cytotoxic agents to either macromolecular carriers (e.g. monoclonal antibodies) or small molecules (i.e. peptides and small ligands) represents a well-known approach to increase the therapeutic index of these drugs, thus improving treatment efficacy and minimizing side effects. While the carrier is fundamental to modulate the drug biodistribution in vivo, the cytotoxic activity is displayed only upon cleavage of a specific chemical bond (linker) that connects the drug to the carrier. The perfect balance between the linker stability and its selective cleavage represents the key for success in these therapeutic approaches. Moreover, different types of “self-immolative” spacers are often installed between linker and drug fragments, either acting as chemical adaptors or to facilitate the prodrug activation.[1] New strategies to improve the efficacy of Tumor-Targeted Drug Conjugates will be discussed here, ranging from the design of non-internalizing conjugates,[2] to novel self-immolative spacers for drug activation.[3]
[1] A. Dal Corso, L. Pignataro, L. Belvisi, C. Gennari. Chem. Eur. J. 2019, 25, 14740-14757.
[2] a) A. Dal Corso, R. Gébleux, P. Murer, A. Soltermann, D. Neri, J. Control. Release 2017, 264, 211-218; b) S. Cazzamalli, A. Dal Corso, F. Widmeyer, D. Neri, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 1617-1621.
[3] A. Dal Corso, V. Borlandelli, C. Corno, P. Perego, L. Belvisi, L. Pignataro, C. Gennari, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 4176-4181.
Biographical sketch: Alberto Dal Corso studied chemistry at Università degli Studi di Milano, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2015 with Prof. Cesare Gennari. He then joined the group of Prof. Dario Neri at ETH Zürich as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2018, he returned to Università degli Studi di Milano, where he is currently working as a research fellow. In 2019 he was awarded the Junior Prize “Organic Chemistry for Life Sciences” by the Italian Chemical Society. His research interests include the development of novel drug delivery strategies and the synthesis of ligands for clinically relevant protein targets.