New Method, Spraying Cancer Drugs Directly to the Brain

New Method, Spraying Cancer Drugs Directly to the Brain - Researchers have developed non-invasive ways to send drugs to the brain stem in patients with brain cancer.

A person's brain stem controls some of the most important bodily functions, including heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and swallowing. So that the growth of tumors in this part of the brain becomes twice as damaging.

Not only does it interfere with vital functions, but operating in this area is very risky, many medical professionals refuse to do so.

Now, using the new method, researchers can pair ultrasound and contrast agents, which consist of small bubbles, by administering sprays to direct the drug to the brain stem and, potentially, other parts of the brain.

This technique can bring the drug a step closer to curing brain-based diseases such as intrinsic pontine diffuse glioma (DIPG), children's brain cancer with a five-year survival rate, a dark view that has remained unchanged over the past 40 years.

All work begins with a conversation between Hong Chen, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science and an assistant professor of radiology oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Joshua Rubin, professor of pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine.

The Chen technique combines Focused UltraSound with Intra-National delivery. Intranal delivery can bring nanoparticles directly to the brain, through the blood of the brain barrier, barriers to drug delivery in the brain.

"At first, I didn't even believe this could work," Hong said about giving the drug to the brain intranasally. "I think our brain is fully protected. But these nerves are directly connected to the brain and provide direct access to the brain. "

New Method, Spraying Cancer Drugs Directly to the Brain

Better targeting

When performing ultrasound scanning, micro bubbles form contrast agents that highlight images. After being injected into the bloodstream, micro bubbles behave like red blood cells, crossing the body when the heart pumps.

Once they reach a site where ultrasound is focused, they do something unusual.

"They began to expand and contract," Chen said. They act as a pump to the surrounding blood vessels as well as spaces around the blood vessels.

"Consider blood vessels like rivers," Chen said. "The conventional way to send medicine is to throw it into the river. In other parts of the body, the rivers are a little 'leaky', allowing them to seep into the surrounding tissue. But the brain's blood barrier, which forms a protective layer around blood vessels in the brain, prevents this leak, especially in the brains of young patients. "

Then, after the micro bubbles begin to expand and contract. Micro oscillations are pushing and pulling, pumping drugs into the brain stem. This technique also makes drugs go directly to the brain rather than circulating throughout the body.

The next step ?

So far, Chen's laboratory has successfully used their technique in mice for drug delivery made by a team led by Liu.

"The next step is to demonstrate the efficacy of new techniques in the delivery of chemotherapy drugs for DIPG treatment," said Dezhuang Ye, author and Chen postgraduate student from the department of mechanical engineering & materials science.

The laboratory hopes to improve techniques from mice to large animal models. Chen said the team also hoped to translate the findings of this study into clinical trials for children with DIPG.

There are difficulties ahead, but Chen believes researchers will need to continue to innovate to solve difficult problems. American Cancer Society, Children's Discovery Institute of Washington University, and St. Louis Children's Hospital supports this work.