Implantable Microneedle‐Mediated Eradication of Postoperative Tumor Foci Mitigates Glioblastoma Relapse

Abstract

AbstractGlioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains incurable despite multimodal treatments after surgical debulking. Almost all patients with GBM relapse within a narrow margin (2–3 cm) of the initial resected lesion due to the unreachable residual cancerous cells. Here, a completely biodegradable microneedle for surgical cavity delivery glioblastoma‐associated macrophages (GAMs)‐activating immune nano‐stimulator that mitigates glioblastoma relapse is reported. The residual tumor lesion‐directed biocompatible microneedle releases the nano‐stimulator and toll‐like receptor 9 agonist in a controlled manner until the microneedles completely degrade over 1 week, efferently induce in situ phonotypic shifting of GAMs from anti‐ to pro‐inflammatory and the tumor recurrence is obviously inhibited. The implantable microneedles offer a significant improvement over conventional transdermal ones, as they are 100% degradable, ensuring safe application within surgical cavities. It is also revealed that the T cells are recruited to the tumor niche as the GAMs initiate anti‐tumor response and eradicate residual GBM cells. Taken together, this work provides a potential strategy for immunomodulating the postoperative tumor niche to mitigate tumor relapse in GBM patients, which may have broad applications in other malignancies with surgical intervention.