Blood Brain Barrier Disruption for Direct Delivery of Agents to Tumors

Systemic treatment for brain cancer is challenging because nearly all chemotherapeutic agents are blocked by the blood brain barrier that protects neurological tissues from toxins. However, the Food and Drug Administration recently granted approval to researchers at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center to conduct a study that will make them the first in the United States to perform blood brain barrier disruption (BBBD) to open the blood brain barrier in highly invasive glioblastoma tumors.

This study, as part of the safety and feasibility process, will provide a neurosurgeon with additional data about the tumor during surgery as part of the current standard approach. This BBBD technique may represent the first step toward the eventual direct delivery of therapeutic agents to invasive components of these brain tumors.

Using the Exablate Neuro, a 220 kHz focused ultrasound technology developed by INSIGHTEC, along with DEFINITY microbubbles, currently used as ultrasound contrast agents developed by Lantheus Medical Imaging, a team led by Graeme Woodworth, MD, FACS, Professor of Neurosurgery, will be able to disrupt the blood brain barrier enough to successfully image and mark specific regions of a brain tumor with gadolinium contrast agent. The UM Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only a few centers in North America that currently have the 220 kHz focused ultrasound technology necessary for this process.

In this video, Dr. Woodworth explains the significance of opening the blood brain barrier and discusses how his research contributes to potential new treatment possibilities for glioblastoma patients.

Related Content

• FDA Approves First Study of INSIGHTEC’s Exablate Neuro to Open the Blood-Brain Barrier in Glioblastoma Patients (INSIGHTEC Press Release)
• ExAblate Blood Brain Barrier Disruption (BBBD) for Planned Surgery in Glioblastoma (Clinical Trial:)
• Brain Cancer Clinical Trials at UMGCCC
• Schedule Grand Rounds for Your Hospital With Dr. Woodworth

Related Articles

• Woodworth GF, Dunn GP, Nance EA, Hanes J, Brem H. Emerging insights into barriers to effective brain tumor therapeutics. Front Oncol. 2014 Jul 21;4:126.
• Hersh DS, Nguyen BA, Dancy JG, Adapa AR, Winkles JA, Woodworth GF, Kim AJ, Frenkel V. Pulsed ultrasound expands the extracellular and perivascular spaces of the brain. Brain Res. 2016 Sep 1;1646:543-550.
• Hersh DS, Kim AJ, Winkles JA, Eisenberg HM, Woodworth GF, Frenkel V. Emerging applications of therapeutic ultrasound in neuro-oncology: moving beyond tumor ablation. Neurosurgery. 2016 Nov;79(5):643-654.
• Nance E, Timbie K, Miller GW, Song J, Louttit C, Klibanov AL, Shih TY, Swaminathan G, Tamargo RJ, Woodworth GF, Hanes J, Price RJ. Non-invasive delivery of stealth, brain-penetrating nanoparticles across the blood-brain barrier using MRI-guided focused ultrasound. J Control Release. 2014 Sep 10;189:123-132.
• Hersh DS, Wadajkar AS, Roberts N, Perez JG, Connolly NP, Frenkel V, Winkles JA, Woodworth GF, Kim AJ. Evolving drug delivery strategies to overcome the blood brain barrier. Curr Pharm Des. 2016;22(9):1177-1193.