Bioactive glasses combined with gallium for potential bone cancer treatment

Bioactive glass is a filling material which can bond to tissue and improve the strength of bones and teeth. Tests in labs have found that bioactive glasses doped with gallium have a 99 per cent success rate of eliminating cancerous cells and can regenerate diseased bones. The research, published in Biomedical Materials, was led by Professor Richard Martin who is based in Aston’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

In laboratory tests 99 per cent of osteosarcoma (bone cancer) cells were killed off without destroying non-cancerous normal human bone cells. The researchers also incubated the bioactive glasses in a simulated body fluid and after seven days they detected the early stages of bone formation. 

Gallium is highly toxic, and the researchers found that cancer cells soak it up and self-kill, which prevented the healthy cells from being affected. 

Osteosarcoma is the most commonly occurring primary bone cancer and despite the use of chemotherapy and surgery to remove tumours, survival rates have not improved much since the 1970s. Survival rates are reduced for patients who have a recurrence, and primary bone cancer patients are more susceptible to bone fractures. 

Despite extensive research on different types of bioactive glass or ceramics for bone tissue engineering, there is limited research on targeted and controlled release of anti-cancer agents to treat bone cancers.

In a statement, Professor Martin said: “There is an urgent need for improved treatment options and our experiments show significant potential for use in bone cancer applications as part of a multimodal treatment.

“We believe that our findings could lead to a treatment that is more effective and localised, reducing side effects, and can even regenerate diseased bones.

“When we observed the glasses, we could see the formation of a layer of amorphous calcium phosphate/hydroxy apatite layer on the surface of the bioactive glass particulates, which indicates bone growth.”

The glasses were created in the Aston University labs by rapidly cooling very high temperature molten liquids (1450°C) to form glass. The glasses were then ground and sieved into particles that could then be used for treatment.

In previous research, the team achieved a 50 per cent success rate, but this was not enough to be a potential treatment. The team now hopes to attract more research funding to conduct trials using gallium.