In a focused endeavor to tackle the formidable foe of brain cancer, a team from the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center is taking the fight to a micro level by employing a technique that may sound like sci-fi but is very real: glioblastoma-on-a-chip. Granted a $40,000 Ride Cincinnati grant, this team's goal is to develop a novel treatment using a "wafer" technology to activate the central nervous system's immune defense following the surgical removal of glioblastomas, which are notoriously aggressive brain tumors with a disheartening five-year survival rate of 5% to 7%.
Delving into a game-changing treatment modality for glioblastoma, Dr. Jonathan Forbes, who leads the project, is exploring the use of wafers to stimulate the brain's immune system to attack and clear residual tumor cells post-surgery. Despite existing wafer treatments that deliver radiation or cell-killing agents, Forbes regards these as typically nonspecific, not cost-effective, and having a limited impact on patient outcomes. "After surgery to remove the tumor, we have unencumbered access to a resection cavity that we know microscopically is invaded by tumor cells," Forbes told University of Cincinnati News. "Why not use this access to enhance the central nervous system’s ability to clear residual tumor cells?"
Identifying a suitable immune-stimulating agent was the initial step for the project, and medical student Beatrice Zucca, alongside her mentor, Forbes, pinpointed Interleukin-15 (IL-15) as a formidable ally, given its efficacy in bolstering immune cells against cancer. "IL-15 is exceptionally effective at activating immune populations that are critical for recognizing and killing cancer cells," Zucca told University of Cincinnati News. The protein improves the survival rates, numbers, and the cell-killing functions of these immune populations, suggesting its potential to orchestrate a robust immune attack against glioblastoma.
Leveraging glioblastoma-on-a-chip technology, a pioneering feat of engineering developed by Ricardo Barrile, PhD, permits an in-depth assessment of how this wafer impacts immune responses to glioblastoma in a controlled setting that mimics the human brain more closely than conventional flat dish cultures or animal models. "An organ-on-a-chip is a miniaturized model of a living organ engineered to incorporate the minimal biological elements needed to recreate specific disease conditions," Barrile delineated, according to UC News. His lab notably crafted a model that marries human brain cells with glioblastoma cells using a combination of 3D printing and microfluidics, attempting to bridge the translation gap between experimental research and human clinical outcomes.
