Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre
Drug delivery
The Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre (CBTRC) has established a research programme to develop new drug delivery systems designed to target CNS tumours. Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to either slow down or kill rapidly dividing cancer cells. For brain and spinal cord cancers, the drugs can be injected into a vein, taken orally or introduced directly into the cerebrospinal fluid. The drugs attack the rapidly dividing tumour cells within different parts of the body. However, they can also kill healthy cells causing unwanted side effects of the drugs. Unlike other organs the brain is protected by a ‘blood-brain barrier’, which filters drugs from the blood preventing them from reaching the brain. This means that only some chemotherapeutic drugs can pass across the barrier and be used in the treatment of brain tumours.
The Centre’s research focuses on the design of novel drug carrying polymers to aid targeted delivery of therapeutic agents directly to brain tumours. It is hoped this will increase the effectiveness of the drug by delivering it directly to the site of the cancer cells. This may also reduce the side effects of drugs used in the treatment of brain tumours.
Dr. Martin Garnett, Dr. Sanyogita Puri and Ahmed Abushrida.
Recent publications
Meng W, Kallinteri P, Walker D, Parker T, Garnett M (2007). Evaluation of poly (glycerol-adipate) nanoparticle uptake in an in vitro 3-D brain tumour co-culture model. Experimental Biology & Medicine. 2007;232:1100-8.
Meng W, Parker T, Kallinteri P, Walker D, Higgins S, Hutcheon G, et al (2006). Uptake and metabolism of novel biodegradable poly(glycerol-adipate) nanoparticles in DAOY monolayer. Journal of Controlled Release. 116(3):314-21.
Walker D, Ammourah S, Aroussi A, Garnett M, Giddings D, Howden L, et al (2005). Physical and numerical modeling cerebrospinal fluid behavior for drug delivery to the leptomeninges. Neuro-Oncology. 7(3):308.
Meng W, Parker T, Kallinteri P, Hutcheon G, Higgins S, Walker D, et al (2005). Uptake and drug delivery using biodegradable nanoparticles in monolayers and organotypic brain slices. Neuro-Oncology. 7(3):383.