Guiding intracortical brain tumour cells to an extracortical cytotoxic hydrogel using aligned polymeric nanofibres : Nature Materials : Nature Publishing Group

Guiding intracortical brain tumour cells to an extracortical cytotoxic hydrogel using aligned polymeric nanofibres : Nature Materials : Nature Publishing Group

Guiding intracortical brain tumour cells to an extracortical cytotoxic hydrogel using aligned polymeric nanofibres

• Anjana Jain,
• Martha Betancur,
• Gaurangkumar D. Patel,
• Chandra M. Valmikinathan,
• Vivek J. Mukhatyar,
• Ajit Vakharia,
• S. Balakrishna Pai,
• Barunashish Brahma,
• Tobey J. MacDonald
• &Ravi V. Bellamkonda

• Affiliations
• Contributions
• Corresponding author

Nature Materials

 

(2014)

 

doi:10.1038/nmat3878

Received

 

07 October 2013 

Accepted

 

02 January 2014 

Published online

 

16 February 2014

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Abstract

• Abstract• 
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Glioblastoma multiforme is an aggressive, invasive brain tumour with a poor survival rate. Available treatments are ineffective and some tumours remain inoperable because of their size or location. The tumours are known to invade and migrate along white matter tracts and blood vessels. Here, we exploit this characteristic of glioblastoma multiforme by engineering aligned polycaprolactone (PCL)-based nanofibres for tumour cells to invade and, hence, guide cells away from the primary tumour site to an extracortical location. This extracortial sink is a cyclopamine drug-conjugated, collagen-based hydrogel. When aligned PCL-nanofibre films in a PCL/polyurethane carrier conduit were inserted in the vicinity of an intracortical human U87MG glioblastoma xenograft, a significant number of human glioblastoma cells migrated along the aligned nanofibre films and underwent apoptosis in the extracortical hydrogel. Tumour volume in the brain was significantly lower following insertion of aligned nanofibre implants compared with the application of smooth fibres or no implants.