New discovery by University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) researchers could lead to better treatment for patients suffering from brain cancer.
Despite current treatment strategies, the median survival for patients with the most aggressive brain cancer - called glioblastoma, is 15 months. Less than five per cent of patients survive beyond five years.
Brain Tumor
Brain tumors are the abnormal growth of brain cells that may be benign or metastatic. Brain tumors account for about 2.4% of all the tumor diagnosesandare most challenging due to their critically delicate location.
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HBI member V. Wee Yong, PhD and research associate Susobhan Sarkar, PhD, and their team including researchers from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences and the university's Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute, looked at human brain tumour samples and discovered that specialized immune cells in brain tumour patients are compromised. The researchers took this discovery and, in an animal model, identified a drug that is able to re-activate those immune cells and reduce brain tumour growth, thereby increasing the lifespan of mice two to three times. Their discovery will be published December 8th in the prestigious journal Nature Neuroscience.
Our brains normally contain specialized cells, called microglia, that defend against injury or infection. "Microglia are the brain's own dedicated immune system," explains Yong. "And in this study, we have formally demonstrated for the first time that these cells are compromised in living brain tumour patients."
![World Cancer Death Clock]( "World Cancer Death Clock")
World Cancer Death Clock is a dynamic calculator that constantly updates the number of people in the world dying due to various cancers.
As with other forms of cancer, brain tumours start as individual stem-like cells - called brain tumour initiating cells (BTICs). These cells quickly divide and grow, eventually forming a mass, or tumour. Yong and his team have discovered that the tumour disables microglia, permitting the rapid proliferation of BTICs, which ultimately leads to brain tumour growth.
"We refer to this as the battle for the brain, in which early on in the disease, the microglia are trying to destroy the brain tumour initiating cells," says Yong. "But over the course of time, the tumour disables the microglia and we start to see more initiating cells and more rapid tumour growth. We have sought to tip the battle in favour of the brain to suppress the tumour."
In addition to discovering this mechanism, Yong and Sarkar also identified a drug - amphotericin B (AmpB) - to reactivate microglia that in an animal model, showed a significant reduction in brain tumour growth.
"This drug was able to re-activate the disabled microglia," says Sarkar, "thus restoring the body's natural defense mechanisms and restricting the growth of brain tumour initiating cells."The drug they identified is a powerful agent that is already used clinically to treat severe fungal infections of the brain and spinal cord. "It's a rather harsh medication," says Yong. "But we have demonstrated that this drug can be used in very small doses where it is not only well tolerated, but it is also effective in re-programming microglia."
Yong and Sarkar hope this discovery will lead to clinical trials and ultimately to a new standard of care for brain tumour patients.
The finding has already garnered attention from researchers across Canada, including internationally recognized brain tumour scientist and neurosurgeon Dr. James Rutka.
"This research is highly significant as it implies that a commercially available drug, amphotericin B, which has never been used before for patients with gliomas, may be a novel treatment to consider in future trials of patients with this frequently lethal cancer," says Dr. Rutka, Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto.
Source: Eurekalert
World Cancer Death Clock
World Cancer Death Clock is a dynamic calculator that constantly updates the number of people in the world dying due to various cancers.
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As with other forms of cancer, brain tumours start as individual stem-like cells - called brain tumour initiating cells (BTICs). These cells quickly divide and grow, eventually forming a mass, or tumour. Yong and his team have discovered that the tumour disables microglia, permitting the rapid proliferation of BTICs, which ultimately leads to brain tumour growth.
"We refer to this as the battle for the brain, in which early on in the disease, the microglia are trying to destroy the brain tumour initiating cells," says Yong. "But over the course of time, the tumour disables the microglia and we start to see more initiating cells and more rapid tumour growth. We have sought to tip the battle in favour of the brain to suppress the tumour."
In addition to discovering this mechanism, Yong and Sarkar also identified a drug - amphotericin B (AmpB) - to reactivate microglia that in an animal model, showed a significant reduction in brain tumour growth.
"This drug was able to re-activate the disabled microglia," says Sarkar, "thus restoring the body's natural defense mechanisms and restricting the growth of brain tumour initiating cells."The drug they identified is a powerful agent that is already used clinically to treat severe fungal infections of the brain and spinal cord. "It's a rather harsh medication," says Yong. "But we have demonstrated that this drug can be used in very small doses where it is not only well tolerated, but it is also effective in re-programming microglia."
Yong and Sarkar hope this discovery will lead to clinical trials and ultimately to a new standard of care for brain tumour patients.
The finding has already garnered attention from researchers across Canada, including internationally recognized brain tumour scientist and neurosurgeon Dr. James Rutka.
"This research is highly significant as it implies that a commercially available drug, amphotericin B, which has never been used before for patients with gliomas, may be a novel treatment to consider in future trials of patients with this frequently lethal cancer," says Dr. Rutka, Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto.
Source: Eurekalert
Quiz on Brain
The human brain is exquisitely intrinsic and is the seat of all emotions. If you are curious about what makes you bad, sad, silly or glad this quiz on the brain will satiate you.
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 Scientists Are Exploring Whether Malignant Neural Stem Cells Give Rise To Brain Tumor Stem CellsIt is believed that glioma is derived from brain tumor stem cells. Despite this, the source and molecular signal pathways of these cells are still unclear. | Advertisement
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