Brain cancer can be treated using drugs that stimulate an immune response against the tumours, but it’s difficult for the drugs to pass into the brain. A nanoparticle coating that makes it easier to cross the blood-brain barrier has shown promise in mice
Coating a cancer drug with nanoparticles can help it cross the blood-brain barrier so it can unleash an immune response that kills brain tumour cells. In a small study in mice, the encapsulated drug – used in combination with radiotherapy – eliminated tumours in 67 per cent of the animals.
Glioblastoma is usually treated with surgery, followed by radiotherapy, and sometimes chemotherapy. However, while some drugs have shown promise at boosting the immune response against brain tumours, animal models show that the drugs often struggle to cross the blood-brain barrier to reach the tumour cells.
What’s more, the researchers found that a combination of the nanoparticle coated drug and radiotherapy eliminated tumours in 67 per cent of mice, enabling them to survive for up to 90 days, on average, from the moment tumour cells were first implanted. In contrast, all mice that received either radiotherapy or the encapsulated drug alone had died by around 60 days. Mice that received just standard radiotherapy treatment and no drug had the lowest survival rate – an average of 28 days.
At a later timepoint, the team then implanted another batch of tumour cells into the brains of mice that had previously received the combination treatment. This revealed that these mice showed some immunity to the new brain cancer cells, suggesting this therapy could act similarly to a vaccine.
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