Tag Archives: brain

Gene ‘switches’ could predict when breast cancers will spread to the brain

The researchers, based at the University of Wolverhampton, studied 24 breast cancers that had spread to the brain, along with samples from the original breast tumour, and found a handful of genes with faulty switches. Crucially, two of the genetic switches became faulty early on in the development of breast cancer, suggesting they may be an early warning signal for tumours that will spread to the brain. The scientists are now working to develop a blood test that might be able to detect these signals at an early stage, before the disease has spread. Up to 30 per cent of breast cancers will eventually spread to the brain, often many years after the first tumour was treated…

Cell mechanics may hold key to how cancer spreads, recurs

Some particularly enterprising cancer cells can cause a cancer to spread to other organs, called metastasis, or evade treatment to resurface after a patient is thought to be in remission. The Illinois team, along with colleagues in China, found that these so-called tumor-repopulating cells may lurk quietly in stiffer cellular environments, but thrive in a softer space. The results appear in the journal Nature Communications…

Tool helps guide brain cancer surgery

The Purdue-designed tool sprays a microscopic stream of charged solvent onto the tissue surface to gather information about its molecular makeup and produces a color-coded image that reveals the location, nature and concentration of tumor cells. “In a matter of seconds this technique offers molecular information that can detect residual tumor that otherwise may have been left behind in the patient,” said R. Graham Cooks, the Purdue professor who co-led the research team. …

Brain tumor causes, risk factors elude scientists

“Right now, we don’t know who, we don’t know when, and we don’t know why people develop brain tumors,” said Elizabeth M. Wilson, MNA, President and CEO, American Brain Tumor Association. “It’s frustrating for the brain tumor community, and it’s why the American Brain Tumor Association funds research to pursue answers to these questions, and it’s why we host this national conference to provide answers families desperately seek.” At the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) annual Patient and Family Conference in Chicago, July 25-26, Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, PhD, Associate Professor, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, will be the keynote speaker and provide an update on possible causes and risk factors for brain tumors. As Dr. …

Metastatic brain tumor treatment could be on the horizon with use of SapC-DOPS

However, a new Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) study, published in the advance online edition of the journal Oncotarget, provides hope that previously studied SapC-DOPS could be used for treatment of brain cancer that has spread. Xiaoyang Qi, PhD, member of the CCC, associate director and associate professor in the division of hematology oncology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine and a member of the UC Cancer and Neuroscience Institutes and the Brain Tumor Center, says this critical data shows promise for finding treatment for one of the deadliest cancers…

Molecular imaging tracers help determine treatment plans for brain metastases

Brain metastases occur in 20-40 percent of all cancer patients, particularly in those with non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and melanoma. They account for 170,000 new cases per year in the United States, and prognosis is poor. Treatment for brain metastases typically includes a combination of surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy…

Brain tumor removal through hole smaller than dime

Gavin Britz, MBBCh, MPH, FAANS, chairman of neurosurgery at Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, used a minimally-invasive technique to remove a vascular lesion from deep within the 44-year-old patient’s brain, the first to use this technique in the region. Traditionally, vascular lesions or brain tumors that are located deep within the brain can cause damage just by surgical removal. "With this new approach, we can navigate through millions of important brain fibers and tracts to access deep areas of the brain where these benign tumors or hemorrhages are located with minimal injury to normal brain," said Britz. "Ryan’s surgery took less than an hour." Houston Methodist neurosurgeons Britz and David Baskin, M.D., director of the Kenneth R. …

Proteins identified that may help brain tumors spread

Gliomas account for about a third of brain tumors, and survival rates are poor; only about half of the 10,000 Americans diagnosed with malignant glioma survive the first year, and only about one quarter survive for two years. “Malignant gliomas are notorious, not only because of their resistance to conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but also for their ability to invade the surrounding brain, thus causing neurological impairment and death,” said Hassan Fathallah-Shaykh, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the UAB Department of Neurology. “Brain invasion, a hallmark of gliomas, also helps glioma cells evade therapeutic strategies.” Fathallah-Shaykh said there is a great deal of interest among scientists in the idea that a low-oxygen environment induces glioma cells to react with aggressive movement, migration and brain invasion…