Consent

This site uses third party services that need your consent.

Skip to content
RESEARCH4BRAIN

BBB opening/radionuclides

Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor and is characterized by rapid growth, high invasiveness, and poor prognosis. Despite standard treatment, including surgery, radiotherapy, and temozolomide (TMZ), tumor recurrence is almost inevitable. Although recent advances in radiopharmaceuticals, their clinical translation remains limited by poor delivery across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and blood–tumor barrier (BTB). These physiological barriers normally protect the brain by strictly regulating molecular transport from the bloodstream into brain tissue, but they also significantly restrict the entry of many therapeutic agents.

bbb-opening.png

The objective is to enhance delivery of therapeutic agents to brain tumors by overcoming both the BBB and BTB. One approach involves using transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with nanobubbles to transiently and locally increase barrier permeability. When ultrasound is applied to a targeted brain region, circulating nanobubbles oscillate and mechanically interact with the vessel walls, leading to a temporary and reversible opening of tight junctions. This allows therapeutic agents to penetrate brain tissue more effectively without causing permanent barrier disruption.

A second strategy is intra-carotid artery (ICA) administration, which delivers drugs directly into the arterial blood supply of the brain. This approach increases the local concentration of therapeutic agents reaching the cerebral circulation compared with systemic intravenous delivery, thereby improving tumor exposure before systemic dilution and clearance.

project-laure.png

Finally, targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) employs molecules (antibodies or nanobodies) that selectively bind to tumor-associated targets such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These molecules are conjugated with therapeutic radioisotopes such as ²²⁵Ac, ¹⁷⁷Lu, or ¹⁶¹Tb. Once bound to tumor cells, they deliver highly localized radiation that induces cytotoxic damage while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. This targeted approach enables selective tumor irradiation even in infiltrative disease.

Taken together, these strategies aim to increase therapeutic delivery to brain tumors while maintaining spatial precision and reducing off-target toxicity.

This project is in collaboration with the Infinity Lab (PI: Prof. Christian Vanhove) and the Radiopharmacy Lab (PI: Prof. Filip De Vos).

Researcher(s) involved in this research line:

  • _u6a6558-kopie.jpg

    Robrecht Raedt

  • laure-de-smet.jpeg

    Laure De Smet

    PhD student