Brain cancer tagged posts

A new synthetic protein nanoparticle capable of slipping past the nearly impermeable blood-brain barrier in mice could deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to malignant brain tumors, new research from the University of Michigan shows. ‘I’ve worked in this field for more than 10 years and have not seen anything like this.’

The study is the first to demonstrate an intravenous medication that can cross the blood-brain barrier.

The discovery could one day enable new clinical therapies for treating glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults, and one whose incidence is rising in many countries...

This March 2016 photo provided by the City of Hope hospital shows patient Richard Grady in Duarte, Calif. Suffering from a deadly brain cancer that had spread to his spine, a novel therapy, which helped his immune system attack his disease, shrank his tumors. Grady was the first person to get cells that were genetically modified to seek and kill cancer dripped through a tube into a space in the brain where spinal fluid is made, sending the cells down the path the cancer traveled to his spine. (City of Hope via AP)

A man with deadly brain cancer that had spread to his spine saw his tumors shrink and, for a time, completely vanish after a novel treatment to help his immune system attack his disease—another first in this promising field...

Researchers have shown that a metabolic pathway associated with slowing aging also drives brain cancer. In the image above, cancer stem cells in a mouse brain section glow fluorescent green, allowing researchers to study the effect of inhibiting the pathway on the ability of cancer stem cells to survive and proliferate. Credit: AMIT GUJAR AND ALBERT H. KIM

While a particular metabolic pathway shows potential to slow down the aging process, new research indicates a downside: That same pathway may drive brain cancer. The pathway, known as the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) pathway, is overactive in a most deadly form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis...

University of Arizona biomedical engineering doctoral student Jeffrey Watson, left, and associate professor of biomedical engineering Marek Romanowski assemble parts for the prototype microscopy device. Credit: UA College of Engineering

It allows neurosurgeons, who use microscopes extensively while operating, to see blood flowing inside vessels and more clearly distinguish cancerous from healthy tissue. It gives a more detailed picture in real time and helps them stay on course in surgeries where being off 2mm could cause paralysis, blindness and even death.

Prof Marek Romanowski, UA said “Our augmented technology provides diagnostic information under the microscope on demand and in color, appearing directly over tissue a surgeon is operating on, as if the tissue was painted to help direct...