Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial childhood solid
tumor. Treatment of high risk
tumors require intense multicycle
chemotherapies, resulting in short- and long-term toxicities. Here, we present treatment of an orthotopic
neuroblastoma mouse model, with
silk fibroin materials loaded with
vincristine,
doxorubicin or the combination as a intratumoral, sustained release system. The materials, loaded with
vincristine with or without
doxorubicin, significantly decreased
neuroblastoma tumor growth compared to materials loaded without drug or
doxorubicin only as well as intravenous (IV) drug treatment. The intratumoral drug concentration was significantly higher with intratumoral delivery versus IV. Furthermore, intratumor delivery decreased the maximum plasma concentration compared to IV delivery, reducing systemic exposure and possibly reduing long-term side effects of
chemotherapy exposure. Histopathologically,
tumors with remission periods >25 days before recurrence transformed from a "small-round-blue cell" (SBRC) to predominantly "large cell"
neuroblastoma (LCN) histopathology, a more aggressive
tumor subtype with unfavorable clinical outcomes. These results show that intratumoral
chemotherapy delivery may be a treatment strategy for pediatric
neuroblastoma, potentially translatable to other focal
tumors types. Furthermore, this treatment modality allows for a clinically relevant mouse model of
tumor transformation that may be used for studying the phenotypical
tumor recurrence and developing more effective treatment strategies for recurrent
tumors.