Journal Article

Preclinical Studies with Glioblastoma Brain Organoid Co-Cultures Show Efficient 5-ALA Photodynamic Therapy

Centellas, Marc, Sevilla, Ana, Pedrosa, Leire, Diao, Diouldé, Pineda, Estela, Sierra, Àngels, Muñoz-Tudurí, Marta, Bedia, Carmen, Mosteiro, Alejandra, Ferrés, Abel, Aldecoa, Iban, Tortosa, Avelina, Martínez-Soler, Fina, Stanzani, Elisabetta, González Sánchez, José Juan

2023

Overview

Background: The high recurrence of glioblastoma (GB) that occurs adjacent to the resection cavity within two years of diagnosis urges an improvement of therapies oriented to GB local control. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been proposed to cleanse infiltrating tumor cells from parenchyma to ameliorate short long-term progression-free survival. We examined 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-mediated PDT effects as therapeutical treatment and determined optimal conditions for PDT efficacy without causing phototoxic injury to the normal brain tissue. Methods: We used a platform of Glioma Initiation Cells (GICs) infiltrating cerebral organoids with two different glioblastoma cells, GIC7 and PG88. We measured GICs-5-ALA uptake and PDT/5-ALA activity in dose-response curves and the efficacy of the treatment by measuring proliferative activity and apoptosis. Results: 5-ALA (50 and 100 µg/mL) was applied, and the release of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) fluorescence measures demonstrated that the emission of PpIX increases progressively until its stabilization at 24 h. Moreover, decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis corroborated the effect of 5-ALA/PDT on cancer cells without altering normal cells. Conclusions: We provide evidence about the effectiveness of PDT to treat high proliferative GB cells in a complex in vitro system, which combines normal and cancer cells and is a useful tool to standardize new strategic therapies.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: 3D tumor models / 5-ALA / Aminolevulinic acid / Aminolevulinic Acid - pharmacology / Aminolevulinic Acid - therapeutic use / Apoptosis / Brain - pathology / Brain cancer / Brain injury / Brain Neoplasms - drug therapy / Brain Neoplasms - pathology / Cancer / Care and treatment / Cell Line, Tumor / Coculture Techniques / drug screening / glioblastoma / Glioblastoma - drug therapy / Glioblastoma - pathology / Glioblastoma cells / Glioblastoma multiforme / Glioma - pathology / Glioma cells / Humans / Methods / neurological cancers / Organoids / Parenchyma / Penicillin / Photochemotherapy / Photodynamic therapy / Photosensitizing Agents - pharmacology / Photosensitizing Agents - therapeutic use / Proteins / Protoporphyrin / Protoporphyrin IX / Radiation therapy / Spheroids / Tissue culture / Tumor cells