A team of researchers at McMaster University may have unlocked the key to interception of cancer cells before they reach the brain.
In a recently published study, Dr. Stella Singh, a professor in McMaster’s Department of Surgery, and her team outlined the development of new drug candidates targeted at preventing metastatic brain cancer. This therapy was by targeting an enzyme that lung, breast, skin & other cancers use to spread.
Speaking to CTV News in Toronto, Singh was of the view that the present treatment of the disease is largely palliative. That’s with 90% of patients dying within 1 year of diagnosis. Singh went on to add that once cancer cells break through the blood-brain barrier, the disease begins to spread “constantly.”
By the time the detection is made, whether it’s a single large tumor or a collection of several large tumors, a patient is nearly defeated. This is due to the brain already. The brain has already been cued, leading to this situation. So even if one tumor is removed surgically, there are likely to be others that may crop up. Singh opined that treating brain cancer is like playing ’whack-a-mole,’ where removing one tumour may lead to others appearing. He also serves as the head of the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences. This is besides being the director of the Comprehensive Cancer Centre at King’s College, London, in the United Kingdom (UK).
Beyond that, Singh believed that the only way to attack cancer that’s spread to the brain is whole brain radiation. This treatment targets every cancer cell besides every healthy cell.
If a patient survives whole brain radiation, they will likely experience cognitive issues. It’s the last thing a patient may need to have when already facing an almost incurable disease. A patient doesn’t need to move with cognitive issues when dying, as it can be horrific.
What’s IMPDH2?
The new approach in the prevention of cancer spread to the brain may now be focused on an enzyme called inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (IMPDH2), one of two enzymes researchers may deem ‘vital’ to metastasis.
