A living ‘tumour-on-chip’ is being developed to study glioblastoma and how drugs might best reach the aggressive brain cancer.
The system is designed to mimic key features of the human brain inside a small laboratory device.
Researchers hope it could offer fresh insight into how glioblastoma tumours grow and provide a more human-relevant way to test potential treatments before clinical trials.
The Nottingham Trent University study, in partnership with biotechnology company Kirkstall Ltd, involves combining human-derived cells with a microfluidic system.
Professor Gareth Cave, lead researcher and a scientist in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Science and Technology, said: “There is an urgent need for better ways to test new treatments before they reach clinical trials.
“Current laboratory models, including those that rely on animals, often fail to accurately reflect how glioblastoma behaves in the human brain, meaning many potential drugs show promise in early testing but do not work in patients.
“We are creating a platform which more accurately reflects the human brain environment and has potential to fundamentally change how glioblastoma treatments are developed.
“This project represents an important step toward more predictive, ethical and impactful cancer research.”
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer in adults. It can grow quickly, resist treatment and be hard to target because many medicines struggle to cross the blood-brain barrier.
In the study, cells will be grown inside the chip to form a blood-brain barrier before glioblastoma cells are introduced.
Researchers will then examine how the tumour develops and how medicines move through the barrier to reach cancer cells.
Fluid will be able to flow through the device in the same way blood moves through vessels, while the cells behave as they would inside the body.
The team says the model could offer a more accurate, human-relevant way to test chemotherapies, paving the way for new treatments and improving the chances of promising drugs reaching patients.
The work could also replace the need for large numbers of animals in early-stage glioblastoma drug studies.
Advanced imaging techniques, including microscopy, ultrasound and MRI, will be used to monitor how the tumour develops, how well drugs penetrate the barrier and how they affect tumour growth.
MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, uses strong magnets and radio waves to create detailed images of tissues inside the body.
Even with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, most glioblastoma patients survive around 10 to 15 months after diagnosis, and fewer than 6 per cent live beyond five years.
Malcolm Wilkinson, director at Kirkstall Ltd, said: “Existing preclinical models often fail to replicate the complexity of the human blood-brain barrier tumour interface, resulting in poor prediction of how drugs will behave in patients.
“This new tumour-on-chip platform seeks to address these weaknesses and represents a major advancement in human-relevant cancer research.
“It will support the development of a next-generation glioblastoma model that addresses urgent challenges in drug discovery while reducing reliance on animal experimentation.”
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