"Northwestern Medicine scientists, along with collaborators from the Washington University School of Medicine, have developed a noninvasive nanomedicine approach that may improve the treatment of glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Immunotherapy has transformed cancer care by enhancing the body's immune response to better recognize and attack cancer cells."
""Part of the reason for its failure is the fact that high-grade gliomas in the brain lack the target of those immunotherapy drugs, which are killer T-cells. If you have a cancer that lacks those T-cells, or 'cold tumors,' then these drugs don't do much," said Amy Heimberger, MD, PhD, the Jean Malnati Miller Professor of Brain Tumor Research and a co-author of the study."
""We need to understand and we need to overcome a very high degree of immunosuppression in the disease and, secondly, we have to think more creatively about how we deliver therapies to the brain and to the brain microenvironment," said Alexander Stegh, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery at the Washington University School of Medicine and director of research of the Brain Tumor Center at the Alvin J. Siteman Comprehensive Cancer Center, who was co-corresponding author of the study."
Northwestern Medicine and Washington University researchers developed a noninvasive nanomedicine approach aimed at improving glioblastoma treatment. Immunotherapy enhances immune recognition and destruction of cancer cells but benefits few glioblastoma patients because high‑grade gliomas often lack killer T‑cells, creating 'cold tumors' and profound immunosuppression. Overcoming immunosuppression and delivering therapies effectively into the brain and tumor microenvironment are key challenges. The team collaborated with a nanotechnology laboratory to develop a novel spherical nucleic acid (SNA) nanostructure designed to modulate immune pathways and improve therapeutic delivery to glioblastoma.
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