Save the Brain, Kill the Cancer: Extracellular Vesicle (EV) Treatment for Glioblastoma Patients

UC Irvine researchers find that human neural stem-cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) improve cognitive function following glioma chemoradiation therapy.

Irvine, Calif., May 29, 2026 — Surviving brain cancer gives people a new lease on life, but for many, the effects of the life-saving treatment can linger, presenting yet another set of challenges to overcome.

“The standard radiation and chemotherapy treatments for glioblastoma leave patients with progressive, long-term cognitive side effects that significantly impact quality of life,” explains Casey Hudson, a PhD candidate in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at UC Irvine. Some of these side effects include increased inflammation in the brain and disruptions in memory formation and recall.

Working with a team of researchers at UC Irvine, including her advisor, Munjal M. Acharya, PhD, Hudson led an experimental study to address this type of cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) resulting from clinical treatments for glioblastoma.

“Neural stem cells, as they grow and proliferate, release nano-scale particles known as extracellular vesicles, or EVs,” says Hudson, “and we found that purified EVs have great potential to be stem cell-based regenerative therapy.”

It turns out that the proteins and RNA within these EVs, their “therapeutic cargo,” help regulate the brain's metabolic environment to reduce inflammatory excess in the surrounding healthy neural tissue. EVs thus offer a safe, supplemental intervention that can improve cancer patients' quality of life after chemoradiotherapy without affecting tumor elimination.

The results of the study appear in a paper published in Cancer Letters: “Human Neural Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Improve Cognitive Function Following Glioma Chemoradiation Therapy.”

As outlined in the paper, the researchers use a mouse model to show how the radiation and chemotherapy regimen for glioblastoma — the Stupp protocol — cause significant cognitive impairments.

“We also show that systemic, non-invasive injections of our EVs can improve cognitive functioning, synaptic density and reduce the inflammation in the brain,” says Hudson. “Importantly, EV treatment does not interfere with the therapeutic efficacy of Stupp treatment in reducing cancer growth and volume.”

The team’s next steps are to show the benefits of these EVs in a chemobrain model, to recapitulate CRCI in breast cancer survivors and to better understand the EVs’ mechanism of action leading to this cognitive improvement.

“We will focus on specific miRNA cargo that has the ability to modify expression of a number of neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory genes in the brain,” says Acharya.

“The cognitive side effects resulting from cancer treatments is a well-known, widespread issue that currently has no effective clinical intervention,” he adds. “Our findings are a step toward a long-term treatment of CRCI.”

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) supported this work.

About the UC Irvine School of Medicine: Each year, the UC Irvine School of Medicine educates more than 500 medical students and over 180 PhD and MS students. Nearly 900 residents and fellows are trained at the UCI Medical Center and affiliated institutions. The School of Medicine offers multiple MD, PhD and MS degrees, and students are encouraged to pursue an expansive range of interests and options. The UC Irvine School of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and ranks among the top 50 nationwide for research. For more information, visit medschool.uci.edu.