Treatment of resected brain tumour beds using nanoparticle enhanced radiotherapy

Although great progress has been made in the treatment of some common cancers there remain many where there has been little improvement over decades. One of these is aggressive brain tumours, which have a median survival time of 14.6 months -- a figure that has not improved over the last four decades.

The current best-supported care is surgery, which removes as much of the tumour as possible, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Cancer regularly reappears in this region and progresses rapidly.

A unique nanoparticle loaded hydrogel will be developed which will release nanoparticles in areas of residual cancer. These nanoparticles improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy. This project will bring together Xerion Healthcare Ltd, a SME developing radiotherapy enhancing nanoparticles, and the Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), a CRO that specialises in pre-clinical development and imaging to develop a unique product that will enhance the effect of post-surgical radiotherapy on aggressive brain tumours and reduce the prospects of cancer regrowth.

This project will enable Xerion to take the product forward to clinical trials. Given the critical clinical need for new treatments for this devastating disease, Xerion expects the rollout and uptake to be rapid.