Glioblastoma (GBM) is a tumor which is highly malignant or cancerous because the cells reproduce very quickly. It is difficult to treat because the tumors are composed of different types of cells. However, there are recent breakthroughs in medicine that may help patients be diagnosed with this deadly brain cancer.
Mithramycin Cause Liver Toxicity But Can Be Repurposed For Brain Tumor Patients
Researchers from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center say that they were able to identify a set of genes that can be targeted with drugs that can be shared across almost all glioblastomas. Currently, there are no therapies available that have been successful for patients when a tumor recurs, and five-year survival rate is very low - at only about five percent, Science Daily reported.
Previously, proteins which are called receptor tyrosine kinase were considered as glioblastoma drivers, but drugs that inhibit these proteins haven't been effective in treating patients with this type of cancer. The researchers found that neurodevelopmental transcription factors - or the master proteins that regulate the activity of hundreds of genes during normal brain development, which are reactivated to drive glioblastoma growth - can be inhibited to prevent further tumor growth with chemotherapy drug mithramycin.
Mithramycin has not been used for years due to causing liver toxicity, but the research team said that the drug can be repurposed with safer and more effective treatments for brain tumor patients. This may take years, but the treatment is promising.
Malaria Drug, Chloroquine, Is Reported To Stabilize Brain Cancer
Other breakthrough treatment for glioblastoma is chloroquine - a traditionally off-label malaria drug. First author of the study, Jean Mulcahy-Levy, said that chloroquine was able to prevent cell autophagy - a cell's ability to consume itself to create more energy, a process used by brain cancers to avoid treatment. A glioblastoma patient who has only given 12 months to live tried out the drug, and reported that brain cancer has stabilized. Two other patients who were treated with the same malaria drug had similar results, Medical Daily said.
