A new, more effective therapeutic strategy to treat arteriovenous malformations in the brain

Marc Ribó

Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain

Cerebral arteriovenous malformations are one of the leading causes of haemorrhagic stroke in children and young people, resulting in high mortality and disability.

Available treatments focus on trying to close the abnormal vessels by applying a kind of ‘glue’ (embolic fluid). However, it has recently been discovered that certain oncogenes – genes involved in tumour cell proliferation – within the endothelial cells that line these abnormal blood vessels are mutated. Therefore, the researchers in this project aim to incorporate specific oncogene inhibitors into the embolic fluid, using nanotechnology to induce the death of these abnormal blood vessels without damaging healthy tissue. Integrating these oncogene-specific inhibitors into the embolic fluid could reduce the harmful side effects of such drugs, such as immunosuppression and hyperlipidaemia, as well as reduce the amount of embolic fluid required.

The aim of the project is therefore to use the oncogenic mutations present in cerebral arteriovenous malformations as a target for a new therapy, which would provide a more effective and less invasive therapeutic option and would also be easily adaptable to other systemic malformations.

• Víctor F. Puntes, principal investigator Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), Barcelona, Spain

• Susana Amézqueta, associate professor Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

• Fernanda da Silva Andrade, principal investigator Centros de Investigación Biomédica en Red en el área de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain

Improving Brain Arteriovenous Malformation Cure with local Antioncogenic Nanoparticle Embolization

€998,684.72