PLGA from PolySciTech used in development of salinomycin-loaded nanofiber mesh for treatment of brain-cancer

Glioblastoma is a very common and aggressive form of brain-cancer which has a very poor survival rate. Treatment is difficult as uptake of medicine across the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) is very poor so most medicines do not reach the affected area. One means of circumventing this is to implant a material directly into the brain cavity which releases a therapeutic agent. The choice of therapeutic agent is not trivial, however, as localized delivery to the brain requires that it have minimal toxicity towards normal cells. Salinomycin (a conventional antibiotic) has been found to also have excellent efficacy against cancer cells which provides an opportunity for selective cancer reduction by a biocompatible agent. Recently, researchers at the University of Manitoba used PLGA (PolyVivo AP045) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create an electrospun-mesh that delivered salinomycin in a time-released manner. This research holds promise for improved therapies against often lethal brain-cancers. Read more: Norouzi, Mohammad, Zahra Abdali, Song Liu, and Donald W. Miller. "Salinomycin-loaded Nanofibers for Glioblastoma Therapy." Scientific Reports 8, no. 1 (2018): 9377. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-27733-2

“Abstract: Salinomycin is an antibiotic that has recently been introduced as a novel and effective anti-cancer drug. In this study, PLGA nanofibers (NFs) containing salinomycin (Sali) were fabricated by electrospinning for the first time. The biodegradable PLGA NFs had stability for approximately 30 days and exhibited a sustained release of the drug for at least a 2-week period. Cytotoxicity of the NFs + Sali was evaluated on human glioblastoma U-251 cells and more than 50% of the treated cells showed apoptosis in 48 h. Moreover, NFs + Sali was effective to induce intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to cell apoptosis. Gene expression studies also revealed the capability of the NFs + Sali to upregulate tumor suppressor Rbl1 and Rbl2 as well as Caspase 3 while decreasing Wnt signaling pathway. In general, the results indicated anti-tumor activity of the Sali-loaded NFs suggesting their potential applications as implantable drug delivery systems in the brain upon surgical resection of the tumor.”

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