Purdue researchers have discovered a life-saving treatment for those suffering from glioblastoma (GBM). 

Published in Nature Communications, the study focuses on anti-tumor activity of chlorotoxin-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-neutrophils delivering chemodrug-loaded nanoparticles in preclinical glioblastoma models.

GBM is one of the most aggressive and lethal types of cancers, creating solid tumors in the brain or spinal cord. While effective therapeutics have been developed to treat various types of cancer, their effectiveness in treating GBM has been hindered due to blood-brain barriers and blood-brain-tumor barriers. In this new study, CAR-neutrophils are used to non-invasively deliver and release tumor responsive drugs that target GBM without inducing additional inflammation at the site of the tumor. This bomimetic CAR-neutrophil drug delivery system is a safe, potent and a versatile option for treating GBM and possibly other devastating diseases.

This newest discovery came from a team of researchers led by Dr. Xiaoping Bao, an assistant professor of the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering. The article featured in Nature Communication’s is a follow-up to another article published by this team in collaboration with Purdue’s Department of Biological Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, and Pennsylvania State University Biomedical Engineering. This previous study is focused on their improved method to produce human neutrophils from pluripotent stem cells, that show strong anti-tumor activity after CAR-engineering.

Coauthors of this work are affiliated with Purdue University, Tongji University School of Medicine, California Institute of Technology, The Ohio State University, Imperial College London, The Pennsylvania State University and University of Michigan.

Read more about this research at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37872-4.