REVIEW: Fluorescent Conjugates Based on Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Ligands as an Effective Visualization Tool for Prostate Cancer

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Anastasiia A. Uspenskaia^1,a*, Pavel A. Krasnikov¹, Alexander G. Majouga^1,2,3, Elena K. Beloglazkina¹, and Aleksei E. Machulkin^1,4

¹Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia

²National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”, 119049 Moscow, Russia

³Dmitry Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, 125047 Moscow, Russia

⁴RUDN University, 117198 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received February 2, 2023; Revised May 17, 2023; Accepted May 19, 2023

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Fluorescent dyes are widely used in histological studies and in intraoperative imaging, including surgical treatment of prostate cancer (PC), which is one of the most common types of cancerous tumors among men today. Targeted delivery of fluorescent conjugates greatly improves diagnostic efficiency and allows for timely correct diagnosis. In the case of PC, the protein marker is a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). To date, a large number of diagnostic conjugates targeting PSMA have been created based on modified urea. The review focuses on the conjugates selectively binding to PSMA and answers the following questions: What fluorescent dyes are already in use in the field of PC diagnosis? What factors influence the structure–activity ratio of the final molecule? What features should be considered when selecting a fluorescent tag to create new diagnostic conjugates? And what could be suggested to further development in this field at the present time?

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KEY WORDS: prostate cancer, fluorescent dyes, prostate-specific membrane antigen, PSMA, targeted drug delivery

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297923070088

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