Brain tumors are one of the rare forms of cancers but can be deadly if left untreated. A new discovery has led to the promising cure of brain tumors with the use of Aspirin in its liquid form. The Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom has presented the evidence at the Biology Therapy in Poland in June 2016.
It has been a goal of many medical professionals to create compounds that can penetrate the insides of the brain and pass through the blood-brain barrier, reports Medical News Today. The barrier is used by the body to prevent any foreign materials in the bloodstream from getting into the brain.
The challenge for many scientists is to create substances that can be introduced into the bloodstream and pass through the barrier. Many cancer drugs that can treat and kill cancer cells in other parts of the body cannot penetrate into the said barrier.
The researchers at Portsmouth together with Innovative Pharmaceuticals have created a truly liquid aspirin called IP1867B. The aspirin is combined with two other ingredients and is now approved for clinical use. The early data shows that the liquid aspirin can effectively cure one form of brain cancer called glioblastoma which is essentially a devastating kind of brain tumor among adults.
The new drug was tested on sample tissues from adults and children with brain tumors. It was discovered that both individual and in combination form, the liquid aspirin is roughly ten times more powerful in killing cancer cells compared to conventional cancer drugs, states Science World Today.
While the results are astounding, the drug needs to undergo pre-clinical trial models in order for them to be tested on actual brain tumor patients. Brain tumor incidence in the United States is estimated to be 23,770 in 2016 according to Medical News Today.
