Development of a peptide-based delivery platform for targeting malignant brain tumors

Citation

Biomaterials, Volume 252, 2020, 120105, ISSN 0142-9612

Abstract 

Despite extensive molecular characterization, human glioblastoma remains a fatal disease with survival rates measured in months. Little improvement is seen with standard surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Clinical progress is hampered by the inability to detect and target glioblastoma disease reservoirs based on a diffuse invasive pattern and the presence of molecular and phenotypic heterogeneity.

The goal of this study was to target the invasive and stem-like glioblastoma cells that evade first-line treatments using agents capable of delivering imaging enhancers or biotherapeutic cargo. To accomplish this, a combinatorial phage display library was biopanned against glioblastoma cell model systems that accurately recapitulate the intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity and infiltrative nature of the disease. Candidate peptides were screened for specificity and ability to target glioblastoma cells in vivo. Cargo-conjugated peptides delivered contrast-enhancing agents to highly infiltrative tumor populations in intracranial xenograft models without the obvious need for blood brain barrier disruption. Simultaneous use of five independent targeting peptides provided greater coverage of this complex tumor and selected peptides have the capacity to deliver a therapeutic cargo (oncolytic virus VSVΔM51) to the tumor cells in vivo.

Herein, we have identified a series of peptides with utility as an innovative platform to assist in targeting glioblastoma for the purpose of diagnostic or prognostic imaging, image-guided surgery, and/or improved delivery of therapeutic agents to glioblastoma cells implicated in disease relapse.

Authors

Jennifer J. Rahn^a,b,d, Xueqing Lun^a,b,d, Selina K. Jorch^c,e, Xiaoguang Hao^a,b,d, Chitra Venugopal^g, Parvez Vora^g, Bo Young Ahn^a,b,d, Liane Babes^a,b,d, Mana M. Alshehri^a,b,d,1, J. Gregory Cairncross^a,b,f, Sheila K. Singh^g, Paul Kubes^c,e, Donna L. Senger^a,b,d,∗∗, Stephen M. Robbins^a,b,d,∗

^a Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute, University of Calgary
^b Clark H. Smith Brain Tumour Centre, University of Calgary
^c Calvin, Phoebe & Joan Snyder Institute For Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary
^d Departments of Oncology, University of Calgary
^e Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary
^f Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary
^g Department of Surgery, McMaster Children's Hospital, And McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, McMaster University

Full Text from Biomaterials Article PDF - Biomaterials Vol. 252