Grant: Operating Grant

Effective and safe treatment for brain tumors is currently unavailable. With advancement in the treatment of primary tumors at other sites, such as the skin, breast, colon, lungs, and prostate, the incidence of cancer cell spread to the brain (brain metastases) is increasing. For these patients with brain metastases, the duration of survival is short ranging from 1-2 months without treatment to 4-6 months with aggressive treatment including radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapy. The failure of chemotherapy and targeted therapy is largely caused by the inability of the therapeutic agents to penetrate into the brain and targeting the cancer cells due to a major physiological barrier, the blood-and-brain barrier (BBB) and non-specificity of the agents. We will design a new "nanomedicine" (tiny drug-carrying particles) that can cross the BBB, change the size and shape at the cancer region thus effectively penetrating the tumor, and selectively deliver anticancer drugs into the cancer cells, while sparing the normal brain from harm.