‘Ambitious’ — UWindsor leads study on cancer-fighting brain implants

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High risk. High reward. 

The University of Windsor is leading a pioneering project that could revolutionize the fight against cancer: the creation of tiny, dissolving brain implants that detect and attack the deadly disease. And researchers will test the devices on 3D-printed living tissue. 

Lead researcher Simon Rondeau-Gagné realizes it’s ambitious. But when it comes to fighting one of the greatest diseases plaguing humanity, he sees no room for half measures. 

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“It’s hopefully going to give a completely new set of tools for surgeons and for patients,” said Rondeau-Gagné, an associate professor in UWindsor’s department of chemistry and biochemistry.

“It’s super exciting. The grant is specifically for high risk, high reward. Every collaborator on this grant, we have a piece of the puzzle.

“But to combine everything and get something that could really do it, it’s very risky. It’s pretty big and it’s ambitious but we think the reward is amazing. Anything we can do to increase the lifetime of someone with brain cancer is a huge reward.” 

The project is called Implantable Electronics and E-Theranostics: A Paradigm Shift in Brain Cancer Management.  

The research team, which includes members of UWindsor’s chemistry and kinesiology departments, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, and the University of British Columbia, received $250,000 for the study. The two-year grant comes from the Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) — Exploration program. 

Basically, researchers are developing a degradable unit made of polymers — tiny pieces of plastic — with an electronic sensor on it that would be implanted in the brain after surgeons remove cancer tumours.  

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“We really wanted to start big,” said Rondeau-Gagné. “Our target, glioblastoma, is probably one of the hardest cancers to deal with.

“It’s very difficult to access. It’s very difficult to remove. The relapsing is awful. You’re about eight-month relapse for patients. The rate of death is high. So we went for the big one.” 

With a process researchers call E-Theranostics, the goal is to have the device detect a cancer relapse, alert researchers, release medication to attack the cancer, then degrade.  

“In the case of brain cancer, you remove it by surgery,” said Rondeau-Gagné. “There are a little bit of cancer cells remaining behind. When they start to grow again, they’re going to release molecules, biomolecules.

“Our sensors will be these little electronic units on our plastics that will recognize these molecules and they will actually tell us that the cancer is relapsing.” 

When that happens, Rondeau-Gagné said they can “trigger degradation of the plastics. 

“We’re going to break our plastic into non-toxic components,” he said. “And they won’t only be plastic. We will blend some drugs in it. So by degrading our plastics we’re going to release the drugs.

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“And that is going to kill the cancer that is growing.” 

The device researchers are currently working with is about one centimetre wide. But the study will include surveying patients, clinicians, and surgeons about what they want in such a technology, including the size. 

“This interdisciplinary grant allows us to connect multiple fields,” said Jennifer Voth, with UWindsor’s department of kinesiology and Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. “We want our sensor to work not only in the lab but also be accepted in clinical settings to provide real solutions for patients.” 

The team will test its new drug delivery system on a brain model created with a high-tech bioprinter. It’s like a 3D printer, but instead of plastic or metal, it can print cells and soft tissue.

Researchers will run trials with the brain model, created with a tumour inside of it, before moving to mice and up the scale to actual patients.

Rondeau-Gagné said some different implants already exist. But they don’t have sensors and can only release drugs. They’re also too large, not compatible with the brain, and have multiple side effects, he said. 

“Our plastics will be designed to match the nature of the brain itself,” he said. “But right now, there is no such a thing.

“It is a game changer because there is no such thing as a molecular detector of cancer and a drug release unit that works in the brain. So the whole concept is new.” 

 twilhelm@postmedia.com

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