Electrospun Drug-Loaded and Gene-Loaded Nanofibres: The Holy Grail of Glioblastoma Therapy?

Abstract

To date, GBM remains highly resistant to therapies that have shown promising effects in other cancers. Therefore, the goal is to take down the shield that these tumours are using to protect themselves and proliferate unchecked, regardless of the advent of diverse therapies. To overcome the limitations of conventional therapy, the use of electrospun nanofibres encapsulated with either a drug or gene has been extensively researched. The aim of this intelligent biomaterial is to achieve a timely release of encapsulated therapy to exert the maximal therapeutic effect simultaneously eliminating dose-limiting toxicities and activating the innate immune response to prevent tumour recurrence. This review article is focused on the developing field of electrospinning and aims to describe the different types of electrospinning techniques in biomedical applications. Each technique describes how not all drugs or genes can be electrospun with any method; their physico-chemical properties, site of action, polymer characteristics and the desired drug or gene release rate determine the strategy used. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future perspectives associated with GBM therapy.

Keywords: electrospinning; electrospun nanofibres; glioblastoma (GBM).

Figure 1

Stupps regimen initial treatment course for newly diagnosed patients with Glioblastoma (GBM)/CC BY 3.0.

Figure 2

Schematic illustration of the type’s electrospinning and therapeutically loaded nanofibres.

Figure 3

(a) Illustration of electrospinning procedure/CC BY-NC 4.0, (b) Schematic Diagram of Co-Axial Electrospinning process, (c) Schematic Illustration of Emulsion Electrospinning, reproduced with permission from [27].

Figure 4

TMZ wafer’s ability to reduce orthotopic C6 Glioma tumours in vivo in rats. Graph (I) shows orthotopic C6 Glioma models treated in different groups with a reduction in tumour volume obtained from MRI. (II) Kaplan–Meier survival curve showing survival of animals treated in different groups. (III) H&E (upper three panels) and Ki67 staining (lower two panels) of brain sections of different treatment groups at day 14/CY BY 4.0 [83].

Figure 5

Types of application of electrospun nanofibres used in cancer therapy, reproduced with permission [5].