A team of biologists from Bordeaux has just obtained funding to continue its research into the development of a treatment that uses nanoparticle technology. This is to fight against glioblastoma, a very aggressive brain tumor.
Research is just beginning, but the treatment looks promising. They are carried out by Bordeaux chemists from the polymer chemistry laboratory of the National Polytechnic Institute of Bordeaux, who have just obtained funding from the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM).
A particular cancer, a particular treatment. This is the hope of this research. Because glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive brain tumors. It affects approximately 2,000 people in France each year, including nearly 200 in Bordeaux.
For now, no effective treatment exists. Prior to this new research, no major advances had been made since 2005. Unfortunately, it is a so-called cancer with “poor prognosis”, since the life expectancy of affected patients is on average 18 months.
The idea of the Bordeaux researchers is to use the technology of nanoparticles, infinitely small molecules which would reinforce the action of radio or chemotherapy. Their small size would allow them to carry the treatment to the cells that need it. These chemists claim to create a structure that will mimic the behavior of proteins naturally present in the skin.
On this supporting structure, they combine a chemical substance which, once activated by the X-rays of radiotherapy, could destroy more tumor cells than we are able to do today, thanks to surgery or therapies.
The treatment would then be used after surgery to remove the tumour. A fluorescent nanoparticle gel would be used around the operated surface, to hunt down remaining tumor cells and destroy them.
Sébastien Lecommandoux is the project coordinator and director of the polymer laboratory in Bordeaux. “The goal is to be able to continue to destroy tumor cells that the surgeon would not have completely removed. What we want is to be able to catch these tumor cells and degrade them after surgery.“.
But we must still speak in the conditional because caution is essential. Research is continuing on mice, before testing this treatment on humans, because it should not be harmful to the human brain. The first clinical trial could be done within 5 to 10 years.
Watch the report by Eva Huin and Jean-François Géa.
video length: 02min 04
A team of biologists from Bordeaux has just obtained funding to continue its research into the development of a treatment that uses nanoparticle technology. This is to fight against glioblastoma, a very aggressive brain tumor.
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