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Researchers have developed a smart nanoparticle system designed to help surgeons spot tiny clusters of glioblastoma during surgery and then destroy cancer cells that remain after the tumor is removed.
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer, with cancer cells often spreading into surrounding brain tissue. That makes complete removal difficult because surgeons must preserve healthy areas of the brain. The blood-brain barrier also limits the delivery of many drugs and other treatments, contributing to a five-year survival rate of roughly 7 percent. The new findings were reported by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney, Harvard, and Henan universities.
Published in Science Translational Medicine, the research describes a two-function nanozyme platform that combines tumor imaging with postoperative phototherapy. The system is built around an ultrathin, two-dimensional material containing individually positioned atoms, manufactured using a technique adapted from semiconductor production.
The nanoparticles are designed to cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in glioma cells. A fluorescent dye attached to the material becomes visible under near-infrared light, allowing surgeons to identify tumor clusters as small as 44 micrometers, potentially revealing cancerous tissue that conventional clinical imaging cannot resolve.
The same material can then be activated after surgery. Platinum atoms in the nanoparticles convert hydrogen peroxide naturally present in tumors into oxygen, helping counter the low-oxygen conditions that can make cancer cells resistant to treatment. At the same time, near-infrared light generates heat and reactive molecules intended to destroy remaining cancer cells.
In mouse models, the approach reduced tumor recurrence after surgery. All treated mice remained alive at 60 days, while mice receiving surgery alone survived for about 42 days. Researchers also reported no detectable neurological or motor problems associated with the treatment.
The results are promising, but the technology is still far from clinical use. The experiments have so far been conducted only in mice, and researchers say both its imaging capabilities and therapeutic effects will need to be demonstrated in the much larger and more complex environment of a human brain.
If future studies confirm the findings, the platform could eventually give surgeons a way to both identify more cancer during an operation and target microscopic disease left behind after surgery.
