UTD and UTSW Researchers Team Up Creates Innovative Drug-Delivery Technique for Brain Cancer

Mechanical engineering doctoral student Hanwen Fan, research associate Dr. Xiaoqian Ge and Dr. Zhenpeng Qin are part of the research team that has developed a method using gold nanoparticles designed to deliver medication through the blood-brain barrier.

A technique developed by University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers to deliver medication through the blood-brain barrier has shown promise in a preclinical study for treating glioblastoma, the most common human brain cancer.

The study demonstrated that the new approach overcame the barrier, although years of research will be needed before the method can be tested in humans. Further preclinical studies are ongoing. “The tumors shrank in size, and we expanded survival by more than 50%,” Dr. Zhenpeng Qin said. “We hope this will lead to expanded therapeutic options for treating diseases in the brain and central nervous system.”