Motility trapping

Disrupting the migration pattern of pediatric high-grade gliomas through motility trapping as an innovative therapeutic strategy

High-grade gliomas (HGG) are the most aggressive brain tumors, affecting both adults and children with a very poor prognosis. Despite aggressive treatment, all HGG remain incurable to date. A major cause of this therapeutic failure is the strong migratory capacity of these tumors: individual tumor cells detach from the primary tumor and infiltrate the surrounding brain tissue, where they escape local therapies such as resection and radiotherapy.

The direction of migration of these cells is guided by chemical signals (chemoattractants) in the brain tissue. This project aims to therapeutically exploit this migratory behavior through motility trapping: an innovative strategy in which migrating tumor cells are attracted back to the original tumor site by implantation of a chemoattractant-releasing hydrogel. As a result, escaped cells are again exposed to local therapies, with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of surgery and radiotherapy.