New drug discovery could halt spread of brain cancer

A solution to stopping this inevitable cancer cell spread.

Tissues are groups of similar cells that perform a common function. The tissues in our bodies to a great extent are made of fluid. It moves around cells and is basic to normal bodywork. But, sometimes, this fluid does more harm than good.

In individuals who have glioblastoma, the deadliest type of brain cancer growth, this fluid has a lot higher weight, making it move quick and driving disease cells to spread. What’s more, a typical malignancy treatment, which embeds a medication specifically into the tumor with a catheter, can make this liquid move considerably quicker.

Now, scientists at the Virginia Tech have discovered a solution to stopping this inevitable cancer cell spread. In an article distributed on Nov. 19 in Scientific Reports, Chase Cornelison, lead creator and a postdoctoral specialist at Virginia Tech, points of interest the utilization of a medication that scientists found can obstruct the manner in which cancer cells react to fluid flow.

Jennifer Munson, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, is leading a research team that may have found a solution to stopping the spread of brain cancer cells. Credit: Virginia Tech
Jennifer Munson, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, is leading a research team that may have found a solution to stopping the spread of brain cancer cells. Credit: Virginia Tech

This work is a piece of a Munson-led five-year inquire about allow venture over different colleges, inspecting the job of interstitial fluid flow in the spread of glioma cells. Interstitial fluid is the fluid that encompasses cells in the body.

During the study, scientists used mice with glioblastoma to test how a particular approach to delivering cancer treatment, called convection-enhanced delivery, caused glioma cells to invade the rest of the brain. To block the fluid’s rapid movement and the spread of cancer cells, they tested a drug called AMD3100. The drug, which already has been used in clinics, appeared to be a game changer.

Chase Cornelison, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech said, “This finding could lead to stopping glioblastoma from spreading. I am hopeful that since the drug that we used to block flow stimulation is currently used in patients that maybe clinicians when they do consider using convection-enhanced delivery, will combine that with this drug.”

Jennifer Munson, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics in the College of Engineering said, “It [glioblastoma] is so deadly, and there hasn’t been a shift in treatment response in decades. Something needs to change. With my expertise and looking at fluid flow, maybe there’s an answer there that we haven’t seen.”

“This is a force that isn’t accounted for much in brain tissues. My goal is to have more people thinking about this force and that it can actually have effects on cells that we don’t intend.”

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