6. J Neurooncol. 2018 Feb 21. doi: 10.1007/s11060-017-2733-0. [Epub ahead of print]

Shibahara I1, Hanihara M2, Watanabe T3, Dan M2, Sato S2, Kuroda H2, Inamura A2, Inukai M4, Hara A4, Yasui Y2, Kumabe T2.

 

Author information:

 

1

    Department of Neurosurgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-0374, Japan. shibahar@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp.

2

    Department of Neurosurgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-0374, Japan.

3

    Department of General Internal Medicine, JCHO Sendai Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

4

    Department of Pathology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.

 

Abstract

 

Biomaterials to treat cancers hold therapeutic potential; however, their translation to bedside treatment requires further study. The carmustine (1,3-bis (2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea; BCNU) wafer, a biodegradable polymer, currently is the only drug that is able to be placed at the surgical site to treat malignant tumors. However, how this wafer affects the surrounding tumor microenvironment is not well understood to date. We retrospectively reviewed all patients with glioblastoma treated with and without BCNU wafers who underwent repeat resection at tumor recurrence. We investigated radiological imaging; the interval between the two surgeries; and immunohistochemistry of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD68, FOXP3, and PD1. We implanted BCNU wafers in 41 newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients after approval of the wafer in Japan. Of them, 14 underwent surgery at recurrence and tissue was obtained from around the wafers. The interval between the first and second surgeries ranged from 63 to 421 days. The wafer could be observed on magnetic resonance imaging at up to 226 days, whereas intraoperatively the biodegraded material of the wafer could be found at up to 421 days after the initial surgery. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that CD8+ and CD68+ cells were significantly increased, but FOXP3+ cells did not increase, after wafer implantation compared to tissue from cases without wafer implantation. MRI data and immune cells, as well as interval between surgeries and immune cells, demonstrated positive correlation. These results helped us to understand the bioactivity of bioengineered materials and to establish a new approach for immunotherapy.