Glioblastoma is considered the most aggressive type of brain cancer. One reason it is so difficult to treat is that cancer cells spread into nearby brain tissue. That makes complete surgical removal extremely challenging because surgeons must avoid damaging healthy areas of the brain.
The blood-brain barrier creates another obstacle by restricting how effectively drugs and radiotherapy can reach the tumor. Together, these challenges help explain why the five-year survival rate is only about 7 percent. Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Harvard and Henan universities have developed a 'double-punch' nanozyme platform that aims to tackle both problems using a single system of smart nanoparticles.
The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine. "We've engineered a single material that does two jobs in sequence," said Dr. Bingyang Shi, Chair Professor of nanomedicine from the School of Electrical, Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at UTS.
"It's a precise guide for the surgeon during the operation, and then a targeted clean-up treatment afterward." At the center of the system is an extremely thin, two-dimensional sheet covered with individual atoms that are placed one at a time using a method adapted from semiconductor manufacturing. This structure allows the material to switch between two roles. It can help image cancer during surgery and then perform phototherapy after the operation.
Both functions are activated using the same near-infrared light. Making Tiny Brain Tumor Clusters Visible "During surgery, it functions as a highly sensitive imaging agent," said Professor Shi. "A fluorescent dye engineered onto the sheet glows under a near-infrared wavelength invisible to the naked eye, allowing surgeons to see individual tumor cell clusters as small as 44 micrometers, a resolution beyond current clinical imaging tools.
A targeting molecule attached to the material also helps it cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate specifically in glioma cells. Once surgeons have removed the tumor they can see, the material can be used again inside the surgical cavity and activated by the same wavelength of light. "After the visible tumor is removed, the same material is administered into the surgical cavity and reactivated with the same wavelength of light for postoperative phototherapy," he said.
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