A fluorescent choline kinase alpha inhibitor for intraoperative molecular imaging during resection of canine NSCLC tumors.

JAS239 enables clear intraoperative detection of lung tumors with a tumor-to-background ratio of 5.0 ± 0.6 in canine models.

• Why it matters: Improved tumor detection during lung cancer surgery could reduce recurrence rates, which currently range from 30 to 50%, highlighting the need for better imaging tools.
• What they did: Researchers developed JAS239, a near-infrared fluorescent ChoKα-targeting agent, and tested it through in vitro, mouse, canine, and human ex vivo studies, measuring tumor identification metrics.
• The result: JAS239 demonstrated effective tumor margin delineation and occult lesion detection in dogs, with overexpression of ChoKα correlating to fluorescence, supporting its potential for intraoperative lung cancer imaging in humans.