Researchers at Oregon State University have developed an experimental treatment that uses sugar-coated nanoparticles to deliver genetic material across the blood-brain barrier in a mouse model of glioblastoma. The approach restored a tumor-suppressing protein and increased median survival by 50 percent while shrinking tumors without measurable organ toxicity.
The study focused on glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain cancer, which affects about 3.19 people per 100,000 in the United States and has a five-year survival rate below 5 percent. Lipid nanoparticles carried messenger RNA to produce the PTEN protein, which is often missing in these tumors. A mannose sugar coating allowed the particles to cross the blood-brain barrier by interacting with the GLUT1 transporter.
Oleh Taratula of the OSU College of Pharmacy noted that dense mannose surface coverage was key to competing with glucose for transporter access. Olena Taratula added that glioblastoma cells express GLUT1 at three times normal levels, helping the particles accumulate in tumors.
The findings, published in the Journal of Controlled Release in 2026, showed repeated dosing led to tumor shrinkage without toxicity. Additional contributors included Yoon Tae Goo, Vincent Cataldi and others from the same institution. The work was supported by the National Cancer Institute and other federal and international funders.
