Curcumin-based-fluorescent probes targeting ALDH1A3 as a promising tool for glioblastoma precision surgery and early diagnosis

Abstract High Grade Glioma (HGG) is the most aggressive primary brain tumour for which both effective treatments and efficient tools for an early-stage diagnosis are lacking. Herein, we present two curcumin-based fluorescent probes that are able to bind to aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 (ALDH1A3), an enzyme overexpressed in glioma stem cells (GSCs) and associated with stemness and invasiveness of HGG. Both compounds are selective versus ALDH1A3, without showing any appreciable interaction with other ALDH1A isoenzymes. Indeed, their fluorescent signal is detectable only in our positive controls in vitro and absent in cells that lack ALDH1A3. Remarkably, in vivo, they selectively accumulate in glioblastoma cells, allowing the identification of the growing tumour mass. The significant specificity of our compounds is the necessary premise for their further development into glioblastoma cells detecting probes to be possibly used during neurosurgical operations.