SUPERBRAIN · Magneto-Plasmonic, Raman active Nanocapsules for Superior Pediatric Brain Cancer Therapy

Magneto-Plasmonic, Raman active Nanocapsules for Superior Pediatric Brain Cancer Therapy

Conventional in vitro screening of anticancer products for novel anticancer therapeutics mainly relied on cytotoxicity assays using established cancer cell lines grown as two-dimensional (2D) cultures. The 2D cell cultures has several merits and has contributed significantly to increasing our knowledge of cancer therapeutics and drug screening. However, 2D cell cultures has many limitations including not capable of mimicking the complexity and heterogeneity of clinical tumors as in vivo in the laboratory settings. The Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) project ‘SUPERBRAIN’ addressed this issue and demonstrated laboratory scale three-dimensional (3D) multicellular cancer cell spheroid platform that closely mimic drug penetration, distribution, and final accumulation in cancer cells as that of the solid tumor in the body. The SUPERBRAIN’s scientific discoveries lead to a platform technology that can truly be used in the clinic, and to be very reproducible, fast, and scalable for brain cancers of paediatric (small children) and adult patients. The novel 3D tumor spheroid bridges the gap between the 2D cultures and animal models. This new research allows replicating the architecture of human tumors and better investigates the pathobiology of human cancer. The advantage of the developed 3D tumor spheroid model is particularly needful for the development of new anticancer strategies and better measures for cancer treatment. The SUPERBRAIN also designed the magnetic and plasmonic active nanocarriers which has drug and cancer cell targeting molecules on the surface. The innovative magnetic core shell noncarriers, target the 3D multicellular tumor spheroids under externally applied magnetic field and delivering the cancer drugs into 3D complex tumor type architecture. The SUPERBRAIN provides systematic approach for brain cancer therapeutics based on nanotechnology. Particles called nano-carriers also a key ingredient of most cancer therapies do the job well. But each nano-carrier or nanomedicine product is compatible with a limited range of drugs, and only a few can get succeed to target the tumor, meaning the vast majority of nanocarriers can’t be given as potentially to the target site. A SUPERBRAIN’s scientific developments has invented a novel nano-carrier, tested it in lab conditions on 3D multicellular cancer spheroids, and nanocarriers enables us to deliver drugs very precisely to solid tumors. Side effects that result from the drug ending up elsewhere in the body can be significantly reduced for paediatric cancer patients in the near future. SUPERBRAIN’s, overall implementation designed plans and strategies to be applied in order to achieve a high level of visibility of the project outcomes and to transfer knowledge and results. SUPERBRAIN is a project that arises from the need of the European Union’s Mission: Cancer (2021-2030) focuses on the development of more accurate and targeted cancer therapies. Early diagnosis, and target more deprived populations in cancer prevention to open the new therapeutics window of cancer in small children using nanomedicine approach is the gaol of the SUPEBRAIN. This next generation technological marvel should be market ready to integrate them with clinics and meet all the legal and functional requirements that different health sectors demand.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union