Researchers from the Queen Mary University of London, financially backed by the Brain Tumour Research charity, have recently discovered a new way of preventing further cancerous brain tumor growth.
The pre-clinical research in samples of human tissue, human cell lines, as well as mice could result in changes in the manner some children who have medulloblastoma are treated in the future if the results are verified in human clinical tests.
A ScienceDaily report said, medulloblastoma is the most typical high-grade brain tumor in children. More so, around 70 diagnosed in the United Kingdom each year.
In relation to this, the survival rate is 70 percent for those whose tumor has not spread although it is nearly always deadly in cases of recurring tumor.
'Medulloblastoma'
The study, Inositol treatment inhibits medulloblastoma through suppression of epigenetic-driven metabolic adaptation, which is published in the Nature Communications journal, examined inositol hexaphosphate, IP6, a naturally occurring compound that that exists in almost all animals and plants, and presented how it constrains medulloblastoma and can be combined with chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells.
According to the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence's Professor Silvia Marino at the Queen Mary University of London, the lead researcher, medulloblastoma as described in Mayo Clinic, occurs in four different subgroups including WNT, SHH, G3, and G4.
Despite the growing knowledge of the molecular dissimilarities between the said subgroups, present options are surgery together with chemotherapy or radiotherapy for all patients.
Additionally, there is a desperate need in understanding the key molecular occurrences that drive tumor growth in every subgroup to develop "new, less toxic targeted treatments," explained Marino.
The lead author added G4 medulloblastoma is the least understood among all subgroups, despite being the most typical and linked to poor prognosis.
Cancerous Brain Tumors Prognosis
Marino also said they have identified an innovative way that this medulloblastoma type is able to adjust its metabolism and grow irrepressibly.
Substantially, she added, they have shown how this energy supply can be blocked, as well. These exciting outcomes bring the hope of developing new targeted treatments for patients who have this aggressive pediatric brain tumor.
Typically, cells are able to switch certain genes on and off as needed to regulate their growth. Known as epigenetics, this process can be interrupted in cancer, resulting in the overproduction of particular proteins that add to a tumor's development and growth.
It is known already, that epigenetic alteration can add to the development of medulloblastoma. In addition, a protein known as BMI1, which is involved in this process, is found in high levels, in an extensive range of cancers which include brain tumors.
Essentially, in medulloblastoma, high levels of it are found to be in the G4 subgroup, where it endures the growth of the tumor.
Commenting on the research findings, Stakeholders Relations at Brain Tumour Research Head Hugh Adams said, it is great news, and the study has brought some much-needed hope for the future.
In a similar EurekAlert! report, he added that there is still some way to go although hopes that a clinical test could be up and running soon.
Adams explained, brain tumors kill more children and adults below 40 years old, yet historically, only one percent of the national cancer expenditures allotted to this devastating illness.
Related information about pediatric brain tumors is shown on John Hopkins Medicine's YouTube video below:
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