Evaluation of lauroyl-gemcitabine-loaded hydrogel efficacy in glioblastoma rat models

Aim: Anticancer drug-loaded hydrogels are a promising strategy for the local treatment of incurable brain tumors such as glioblastoma (GBM). Recently, we demonstrated the efficacy of lauroyl-gemcitabine lipid nanocapsule hydrogel (GemC₁₂-LNC) in a U-87 MG xenograft orthotopic mouse model. In this study, we developed a reliable and reproducible surgical procedure to resect orthotopic GBM tumors in rats. GemC₁₂-LNC hydrogel integrity was tested after brain administration in rats and its anti-tumor efficacy was tested on a 9L syngeneic orthotopic model. Results: We demonstrated that LNC integrity is maintained at least for one week after local administration of GemC₁₂-LNC. GemC₁₂-LNC was able to delay the formation of recurrences in 9L tumor-bearing resected rats, demonstrating the efficacy of this nanomedicine hydrogel in this preclinical model. Conclusion: Our results confirm that GemC₁₂-LNC, a hydrogel uniquely formed by a nanocarrier and a cytotoxic drug, could be a promising and safe delivery tool for the local treatment of operable GBM tumors.