The gel appears to not only fend off cancer but help rewire the immune system to discourage recurrence with immunological memory, researchers said.

“We don’t usually see 100% survival in mouse models of this disease,” Tyler said. “Thinking that there is potential for this new hydrogel combination to change that survival curve for glioblastoma patients is very exciting.”

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine have identified a biomarker that can be used in blood tests to diagnose GBM, track its progression and guide treatment. To investigate the utility of the biomarker for GBM, the researchers examined the tumor tissue and blood plasma of 79 patients with primary GBM, along with the blood plasma of 23 control patients, from two different health systems. They found that patients with GBM had significantly elevated levels of IL13Rα2 in their blood plasma compared to control patients and that the IL13Rα2 was likely concentrated on extracellular vesicles derived from tumor cells. They also found that these IL13Rα2 levels in blood plasma were correlated with the IL13Rα2 levels in the patients’ tumors.

The treatment uses bioadhesive nanoparticles that adhere to the site of the tumor and then slowly release the synthesized peptide nucleic acids that they’re carrying. These peptide nucleic acids target certain microRNAs, short strands of RNA that play a role in gene expression. Specifically, they’re directed at a type of overexpressed microRNA known as “oncomiRs” that lead to the increase of cancer cells and growth of the tumor. When the peptide nucleic acids attach to the oncomiRs, they stop their tumor-promoting activity. “It can knock down both targets at the same time, which turns out to have a remarkably more powerful result, as we saw with the increased survival results,” says Saltzman, a professor of biomedical engineering, chemical and environmental engineering, and physiology.

City of Hope is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of people with cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses. Jana Portnow and her team received the grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to perform a Phase 1 clinical trial to assess an exciting new combination treatment strategy against glioblastoma-- treatment for brain cancer is limited by the blood brain barrier, a kind of gatekeeper that keeps harmful substances in the blood from entering the central nervous system. One way to bypass the blood brain barrier is to deliver the treatment directly into the brain. For this multiple treatment study, a temporary catheter will be implanted into the surgical cavity after the main tumor is removed. Then the catheter, which is attached under the scalp, will be used to administer weekly doses of the virus-producing neural stem cells in the outpatient setting. “We engineered tumor-targeting neural stem cells to produce an adenovirus, which is a cold virus, but it only replicates in cells that have a high expression of a protein called survivin. Since only the cancer cells express high levels of survivin, it doesn’t harm the normal tissue surrounding the tumor,” she said. “Just the way a cold virus infects your cells, this virus infects tumor cells and keeps replicating until it kills them by bursting them open. This virus can be especially effective on tumors that have become resistant to radiation and chemotherapy,” Portnow said.

Optune is a medical device that works by creating Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), which are electric fields that disrupt cancer cell division. Optune delivers TTFields therapy to the region of the tumor. Patients that used Optune plus temozolomide experienced overall survival of 20.9 months versus 16 months for patients treated with temozolomide alone.

Researchers discovered that a specific protein called ubiquitin-specific protease 16 (USP16) stunts the growth and spread of cancer cells. The researchers also identified a separate strand of RNA called lncEPAT that is highly functional in glioblastoma fueling cancer progression. Preclinical models showed that the depletion of lncEPAT increased the activity of USP16 and stifled glioblastoma cell growth.

In journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, investigators from Brigham and Women's describe their work to improve on the existing gene therapy delivery vehicles. The work led to the identification of two AAV variants that appear to more readily cross the blood-brain barrier, making them a powerful GBM tool