New technique increases survival time for glioblastoma patients
The rapid spread of a common and deadly brain tumor has been slowed down significantly in a mouse model by cutting off the way some cancer cells communicate, according to researchers.
The technique improved the survival time for patients with glioblastoma by 50 percent when tested in a mouse model, said a researcher.
Researchers focused on disrupting the cell-to-cell communication that allows cancer stem cells to spread. For that, they targeted a channel that cancer cells use to transfer molecules. By cutting off their communications pathway, the cancer cells stay in check, it was found.
Glioblastoma is the most common brain tumor in adults and there is no effective long-term treatment and patients usually live for 12 to 15 months after diagnosis. Glioblastoma tumors, which are highly malignant, typically start in the largest part of the brain and spread rapidly.
The research focused on connexin 46, a protein that is an essential component of cancer stem cells and known as gap junction. It was found that intercellular channel, which allows cells to exchange molecules and ions, is crucial to the growth of a glioblastoma tumor, researchers found. By shutting these channels in the cancer stem cells, researchers could significantly reduce the tumour forming abilities of those cells.
Tumor growth was significantly delayed in mouse models that were treated with a combination of the gap junction inhibitor and a chemotherapy drug. After 100 days, all of the mouse models that had the connexin 46 protein suppressed genetically were still alive. But those that didn't have the protein suppressed died within two months.
While the technique has yet to be tested in humans, the researchers said the implications are clear and relevant. For now, a glioblastoma patient can expect to survive about 12 to 15 months. Patients can also develop a resistance to temozolomide when it is used for chemotherapy, further shortening their life expectancy.
The researchers need to find the proteins most effective and tolerable concentration and also understand more about the mechanism which make the protein work.
Treating glioblastoma is especially difficult because its cells can vary drastically, even within a single tumor -- so breaking the chain of cell-to-cell communication is yet another potential weapon to fight the disease. If the new therapy is approved following a clinical trial, it would likely be put to use alongside traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
To treast such a deadly disease, multiple approach is needed than just one approach for it to be successful.
The technique improved the survival time for patients with glioblastoma by 50 percent when tested in a mouse model, said a researcher.
Researchers focused on disrupting the cell-to-cell communication that allows cancer stem cells to spread. For that, they targeted a channel that cancer cells use to transfer molecules. By cutting off their communications pathway, the cancer cells stay in check, it was found.
Glioblastoma is the most common brain tumor in adults and there is no effective long-term treatment and patients usually live for 12 to 15 months after diagnosis. Glioblastoma tumors, which are highly malignant, typically start in the largest part of the brain and spread rapidly.
The research focused on connexin 46, a protein that is an essential component of cancer stem cells and known as gap junction. It was found that intercellular channel, which allows cells to exchange molecules and ions, is crucial to the growth of a glioblastoma tumor, researchers found. By shutting these channels in the cancer stem cells, researchers could significantly reduce the tumour forming abilities of those cells.
Tumor growth was significantly delayed in mouse models that were treated with a combination of the gap junction inhibitor and a chemotherapy drug. After 100 days, all of the mouse models that had the connexin 46 protein suppressed genetically were still alive. But those that didn't have the protein suppressed died within two months.
While the technique has yet to be tested in humans, the researchers said the implications are clear and relevant. For now, a glioblastoma patient can expect to survive about 12 to 15 months. Patients can also develop a resistance to temozolomide when it is used for chemotherapy, further shortening their life expectancy.
The researchers need to find the proteins most effective and tolerable concentration and also understand more about the mechanism which make the protein work.
Treating glioblastoma is especially difficult because its cells can vary drastically, even within a single tumor -- so breaking the chain of cell-to-cell communication is yet another potential weapon to fight the disease. If the new therapy is approved following a clinical trial, it would likely be put to use alongside traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
To treast such a deadly disease, multiple approach is needed than just one approach for it to be successful.
Labels: Brain tumour, Cancer stem cells, chemotherapy, communication, connexin 46, glioblastoma, intercellular channel, protein
posted by G S Iyer at 9:32 AM
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