The strategy involves using lipid polymer based
"BTICs are malignant brain tumor populations that underlie the therapy resistance, recurrence and unstoppable invasion commonly encountered by glioblastoma patients after the standard treatment regimen of surgical resection, radiation and chemotherapy," explained the study's first author, Dr. Dou Yu, research assistant professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using mouse models of brain tumors implanted with BTICs derived from human patients, the scientists injected nanoparticles containing small interfering RNA (siRNA)—short sequences of RNA molecules that reduce the expression of specific cancer promoting proteins—directly into the tumor. In the new study, the strategy stopped tumor growth and extended survival when the therapy was administered continuously through an implanted drug infusion pump.
"This major progress, although still at a conceptual stage, underscores a new direction in the pursuit of a cure for one of the most devastating medical conditions known to mankind," said Yu, who collaborated on the research with principal investigator Dr. Maciej Lesniak, Michael J. Marchese Professor of Neurosurgery and chair of neurological surgery.
Glioblastoma is particularly difficult to treat because its genetic makeup varies from patient to patient. This new therapeutic approach would make it possible to deliver siRNAs to target multiple cancer-causing gene products simultaneously in a particular patient's tumor.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-nanomedicine-door-precision-medicine-brain.html#jCp
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