Carbon Nanotube Mediated Thermal Therapy for Brain Tumors
Partner with researchers at Wake Forest Baptist to develop a potential therapy for metastatic and primary brain cancers using near-infrared radiation stimulated mutliwalled carbon.
Research Opportunity
Conventional cancer treatment has not had a significant impact on the prognosis for inaccessible tumors, such as glioblastoma multiforme, which has a median survival of approximately 14 months. Similarly, conventional cancer treatments in metastatic cancers have a low impact on survival. In breast cancer, up to 10-16% of patients will develop metastases to the brain, and the median survival of patients with untreated brain metastases is only 1 month. Surgical resection and subsequent radiation and chemotherapy of these tumors often damage surrounding healthy tissue, adversely impacting morbidity and do not prevent recurrence.
Many malignancies are thought to be sustained by a small, slow cycling population of CSCs, which are unmanageable via standard treatment modalities. Disease recurrence and metastasis are thought to result from the inability to eliminate these CSCs. Finding new therapies that can eliminate the CSC fraction of a tumor, as well as reach inaccessible tumors, represents an urgent clinical priority.
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist have developed a highly effective application of near-infrared (NIR) radiation stimulated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) for brain tumors that are resistant to conventional therapies. Local infusion of therapeutics into the brain is possible using catheter-based approaches to drug delivery, but this requires that nanoparticles be specifically designed for this purpose.
- Improve delivery strategies in difficult to reach tumors
- Generate multifunctional MWCNTs that incorporate targeting ligands, image guidance and drug delivery
- Continue scalability efforts to clinical application
- Perform in vivo studies in large animal brain tumor models