Glioblastoma is one of the most common and dangerous forms of brain cancer, as well as one of the most severe types of brain cancer. However, there may be good news on the horizon.
A newly developed hydrogel tested in mice cleared the effects of glioblastoma tumors and prevented their recurrence. And the hydrogel was so effective that the animals had an “amazing” 100% survival rate.
While we cannot be sure that the same treatments will have the same success in humans, this is a very promising new approach.
Paclitaxel is a chemotherapy drug in the center of a gel that is used to make nanofilaments to be injected into the brain. This drug is already approved for other types of cancer, including breast and lung cancer.
The hydrogel evenly coats the cancerous cavity and fine grooves left by the removal of the tumor and releases an antibody called aCD47 over several weeks. It appears that the treatment is reaching parts of the tumor that other drugs might miss.
“We don’t typically see 100% survival rates in mouse models of this disease,” says Betty Tyler, MD, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The survival curve for patients with glioblastoma is impressive.” Extremely”.
And this ability to deliver drugs and antibodies at the same time — to deliver both chemotherapy and immunotherapy at the same time — is another part of what makes hydrogels so special. They are difficult to combine because they have different molecular structures.
The researchers describe this strategy as “drug after drug,” and it has been shown in trials to boost the animals’ immune systems.
When glioblastoma tumors reappeared, the mice were able to fight them off on their own without further treatment.
However, surgery is still required to remove the original tumor. And when the gel was applied without first removing the tumor, the survival rate dropped to 50 percent.
“Perhaps surgery will take some of that pressure off and give the gel more time to activate the immune system to fight cancer cells,” says Honggang Cui, a chemical engineer and biomolecular specialist at Johns Hopkins University.
Glioblastoma is still difficult to treat—partly because of the lack of protective T cells in the brain—but we’re making progress.
Small discs called Gliadel plates, developed by the same research team behind this latest study, are now used after tumor removal to prevent the cancer from recurring.
The researchers acknowledge that it will not be easy to translate their findings into practical therapies that affect the human brain.
“Despite recent technological advances, there is an urgent need for new treatment strategies,” Cui says. “We believe this hydrogel is the future and will complement existing brain cancer treatments.”
The study is published in PNAS.
Source: Science Alert
