Multifunctional nanofiber for convection-enhanced delivery of theranostics to diffuse intrinsic pontine Glioma (DIPG)

Active Research Project
Investigator(s): 
Benedict Law, Ph.D.
Last Updated: 
May 8, 2022

Among all pediatric cancers, DIPG stands out as the most aggressive. Focal radiotherapy only extends patient survival for a few months, and chemotherapy proves ineffective as DIPG inherently resists most chemotherapeutics. Moreover, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) naturally restricts many drugs from reaching the brain tumor. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED), a direct infusion technique for delivering drugs to the brain, enables accurate dosage for more precise treatment. However, drug molecules can be quickly cleared from the brain post-delivery. The physicochemical properties of NFP can be finely tuned to control post-CED tissue distribution (Movie 3) and retention (Fig. 2). We employ a combination of CED and NFP to bypass the BBB, prolong drug retention at the fusion site, and maintain an effective therapeutic effect against DIPG, ultimately improving treatment outcomes (Fig. 3, PMID: 32301996)

Multifunctional nanofiber for convection-enhanced delivery

Multifunctional nanofiber for convection-enhanced delivery of theranostic for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma

Weill Cornell Medicine
Department of Radiology
525 East 68th Street New York, NY 10065