Aim
Anticancer drug-loaded hydrogels are a promising strategy for the local treatment of incurable brain tumors such as glioblastoma (GBM). Recently, we demonstrated the efficacy of lauroyl-gemcitabine lipid nanocapsule hydrogel (GemC12-LNC) in a U-87 MG xenograft orthotopic mouse model. In this study, we developed a reliable and reproducible surgical procedure to resect orthotopic GBM tumors in rats. GemC12-LNC hydrogel integrity was tested after brain administration in rats and its anti-tumor efficacy was tested on a 9L syngeneic orthotopic model.
Conclusion
Our results confirm that GemC12-LNC, a hydrogel uniquely formed by a nanocarrier and a cytotoxic drug, could be a promising and safe delivery tool for the local treatment of operable GBM tumors.
Results
We demonstrated that LNC integrity is maintained at least for one week after local administration of GemC12-LNC. GemC12-LNC was able to delay the formation of recurrences in 9L tumor-bearing resected rats, demonstrating the efficacy of this nanomedicine hydrogel in this preclinical model.