Scientists in Britain and Spain have discovered critical windows after glioblastoma surgery when the brain’s defences falter, creating a rare chance to deliver powerful treatments exactly where needed. If doctors time treatment within two narrow postoperative windows identified by the researchers, existing lipid nanoparticle medicines – already approved and routinely used in oncology hospitals today – could be redeployed to deliver early, precision‑targeted therapy to the brain.
The studies, published in Science Translational Medicine on 29 July, were performed using mouse models of this largely incurable disease by a team from the Centre for Nanotechnology in Medicine and the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre at The University of Manchester.
Glioblastoma is the most common and most aggressive brain cancer in adults and currently has no cure. Neurosurgeons will typically first remove the tumour, before treating the patient with chemoradiotherapy 4 to 6 weeks later. Because glioblastoma cells infiltrate deep into healthy brain tissue, some will always remain after surgery, fuelling the near‑inevitable return of disease, most times regrowing at the rim of the surgical resection.
The research, spearheaded by postdoctoral associate at The University of Manchester Dr Lorena Fernandes, showed experimentally that the blood‑brain barrier is disrupted after surgery, opening two short‑lived therapeutic windows at the resection margin — immediately after the operation and again 48–72 hours later. Using different mouse models and performing precise neurosurgery to remove the growing glioblastoma tumours from their brains, the team tracked fluorescently labelled, liposomal nanoparticles injected into the blood stream during the time-windows identified. The particles homed in on the resection margin with remarkable precision while other brain regions with an intact barrier showed almost no uptake.
Lipid nanoparticle medicines are based on tiny lipid-based nanoscale carriers that can ferry different cancer drugs (such as chemotherapies, radiotherapies, mRNA therapies) directly to tumours so the medicine targets the cancer cells alone. They are used to treat different types of cancer, but until now they have not been shown to be effective against this difficult to treat disease.
Chemotherapies have also largely failed in this disease due to poor crossing of the blood-brain barrier, and minimal amounts can reach the few cancer cells left over from surgery. By loading these liposome nanoparticles with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, the team was able to exploit these newly identified post-operative windows to achieve precise delivery in the brain, exactly where needed. Across different mouse models, a single injection of this liposomal drug was able to suppress recurrence and control the disease with little toxicity.the first half of your story here.
“The University of Manchester is a public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester City Centre on Oxford Road.”
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