New Technique Treats Aggressive Brain Tumors by Disrupting Blood-Brain Barrier

Glioblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor, accounts for more than half of all such cancers. Despite the use of aggressive treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, the prognosis for patients remains poor. A significant obstacle is the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which protects the brain from potential toxins in the bloodstream but also prevents many therapeutic agents from reaching brain tumors. This barrier highlights the urgent need for innovative treatments that can effectively target brain tumors like glioblastoma. Now, groundbreaking new research is exploring a new option that could one day be used to target glioblastoma and help add another tool to the cancer-fighting arsenal.

A team from Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA, USA) and Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA, USA) previously conducted research on high frequency irreversible electroporation, or H-FIRE. H-FIRE utilizes non-thermal electrical pulses to destroy cancer cells and has been shown to disrupt the blood-brain barrier to enhance drug delivery. However, the study published in a paper in APL Bioengineering in May was the first to use a sinusoidal wave known as burst sine wave electroporation (B-SWE) to disrupt the blood-brain barrier. In a study using a rodent model to compare the impact of the sinusoidal wave against the more conventional, square-shaped wave, the researchers found that B-SWE resulted in less damage to cells and tissue but more disruption of the blood-brain barrier.

Image: A visualization of the blood-brain barrier disruption one hour post-treatment as noted by the diffusion of normally impermeant (Photo courtesy of APL Bioengineering)

In certain clinical cases, both ablation and blood-brain barrier disruption would be ideal, but in other situations, blood-brain barrier disruption could be more important than destroying cells. For instance, in scenarios where a surgeon has removed the bulk of a tumor, B-SWE could potentially break down the blood-brain barrier around the surgical site, allowing chemotherapy agents to target any remaining cancer cells with minimal damage to the brain. The study also uncovered a drawback: the sinusoidal wave caused increased neuromuscular contractions, potentially harming the surrounding tissues. However, adjustments to the dosage of B-SWE showed it was possible to reduce these contractions while maintaining effective blood-brain barrier disruption. Future research aims to apply B-SWE to animal models with brain cancer to further explore its efficacy compared to the established H-FIRE technique in a clinical setting.

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