Heterogeneous and Multifunctional Silk Microneedles for in Situ Treatment of Brain Glioma

We report a silk protein-based heterogeneous microneedle device for the postoperative and minimally invasive treatment of brain gliomas. Multiple pharmaceutical molecules - with both the drug type and dosage on demand - can be precisely integrated within the silk microneedle array individually or concurrently with a well-controlled release profile. The device can be directly implanted in the tumor cavity and fully degrade after application in a programmable fashion (i.e. both spatially and temporally). Benefiting from the tunable mechanical properties, the flexible silk microneedle patch is robust enough to penetrate into the brain tissue and conformally attach to the curved brain surface. The tumor microenvironment can be effectively regulated by the controllable release of multiple drugs (i.e. tumor inhibitor, antiangiogenic agent, and hemostatic in this work), avoiding the obstacles presented by the blood-brain barrier. This silk microneedle device offers new opportunities for precise delivering of multiple therapeutic drugs for in situ treatment of intracranial brain tumors.