Nicholas Cavaliero, “Stability of Gallium Maltolate in Water using Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry”
Mentor: Shama Mirza, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Poster #37

Science has been advancing towards better treatment options for cancer. In glioblastoma brain cancer, iron metabolism is associated with continuous growth of cancer cells. A compound called Gallium Maltolate (GaM) is known to disrupt iron metabolism and reduces the tumor growth. The mechanism involves the gallium binding to transferrin, a blood glycoprotein that helps iron metabolism, and enters the tumor cells through a transferrin receptor and disrupts the iron in the cells. Thus, preventing the growth of glioblastoma cancer cells. The gallium III ion is very similar to iron III ion in size that the cancer cells bind to the gallium instead of iron and die. A solution of GaM compound mixed with water will be analyzed on a Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) instrument over varying amounts of time to see if GaM breaks down in water over time. Stability study will be carried out by quantifying GaM at several different time points for 24 hours. These results would show the likeliness of GaM being stable in patient blood as blood is over 50% water. Further serum stability studies will be carried out to optimize the LCMS method. The results also allow the future study of using the LC-MS for actual samples of patient serum to determine the concentration of gallium found in the blood.