Implantable
Pump Delivers Chemotherapy to
Brain Tumors
Researchers at Linkأ¶ping University, Sweden, and the Medical University of Graz, Austria have developed an electrical
Pump that can precisely deliver chemotherapeutic drugs into the brain. The technology is conceived as being
Implantable into
Brain tumor resection sites to deliver localized
Chemotherapy over extended periods. It is hoped that this approach can prevent tumor recurrence.
Unfortunately,
Brain tumor recurrence following surgical resection is all too common. It is difficult to remove all traces of the tumor without causing significant damage to healthy
Brain tissue, and therefore recurrence is inevitable for many patients. Delivering systemic
Chemotherapy is limited by its side-effects and by the presence of the blood
Brain barrier, which will not allow all
Chemotherapy drugs to pass through it.
At present, preventing recurrence can be attempted by leaving chemotherapy-loaded materials behind in the tumor resection site. Examples include chemotherapy-loaded wafers that break down over time and release the drug into nearby tissue. However, such systems allow only limited control of drug release, and this may result in localized side-effects such as cerebral edema and wound healing issues.
This latest technology aims to provide more controllable drug release for tumor resection sites, and consists of a small
Implantable Pump designed to deliver gemcitabine, an effective
Chemotherapy drug that cannot pass the blood
Brain barrier. Excitingly, unlike many
Chemotherapy drugs, gemcitabine has minimal toxicity in healthy
Brain cells, meaning that is well suited for use in
Brain tumors, such as glioblastoma.
“The traditional glioblastoma treatment currently used in the clinics harms both cancer and neuronal cells to the same extent,†said Linda Waldherr, a researcher involved in the study, in a press release. “However, with the gemcitabine ion pump, we tackle only the cancerous cells, while neurons stay healthy. In addition, our experiments on cultured glioblastoma cells show that more cancer cells are killed when we use the ion
Pump than when we use manual treatment.”
The
Pump can be described as an organic electronic ion pump. It uses an electrical current to precisely deliver gemcitabine, which is positively charged, through an ion transport channel. Fortunately, the
Pump requires only a small current, which is advantageous from a safety perspective when delivering therapy in the brain.
So far, the researchers have tested the device with glioblastoma cells
in vitro. “This is the first time an ion
Pump has been tested as a possible method to treat malignant
Brain tumors,†said Daniel Simon, another researcher involved in the study. “We used cancer cells in the lab, and the results are extremely promising. However, it will probably take five to ten years before we see this new technology used in treatments for
Brain tumors.”
Study in
Advanced Materials Technologies:
Targeted Chemotherapy of Glioblastoma Spheroids with an Iontronic Pump
Via:
Linkأ¶ping University
Implantable Pump Delivers Chemotherapy to Brain Tumors