Crossing the blood-brain barrier to better combat brain cancer

Here’s some potentially good news from Ryan Cross who wrote about Alexandre Carpentier (pictured above), a neurosurgeon at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, who used “ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, the most common and deadly tumor originating in the adult brain—allowing for delivery of chemotherapy that would otherwise reach the tumor in minuscule amounts” - https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601691/ultrasound-opens-the-brain-to-promising-drugs/

As background, you should know that the protective sheath surrounding the brain’s blood supply—known as the blood-brain barrier—is a safeguard against nasty germs and toxins. But it also prevents existing drugs that could potentially be used to treat brain cancer or Alzheimer’s disease from reaching the brain.

According to Cross, “the procedure works by first injecting microbubbles into the bloodstream and then using a device implanted near patients’ tumors to send ultrasonic soundwaves into the brain, exciting the bubbles. The physical pressure of the bubbles pushing on the cells temporarily opens the blood-brain barrier, letting an injected drug cross into the brain.”

Here’s a link to the abstract: http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/8/343/343re2

Picture: Alexandre Carpentier holds the SonoCloud device, which he has implanted in 15 brain cancer patients.

ABTA 2015 National Patient & Family Conference

I just saw that registration for the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) has opened registration for their annual “National Patient & Family Conference” - http://hope.abta.org/site/TR?fr_id=3300&pg=entry

 

This is a great conference for victims, caregivers, friends and families. I’ve been, I’ve presented and I’ve listened. If you go, you’ll hear great personal stories of incredibly brave brain tumor survivors and gracious caregivers. You’ll also hear about the most recent treatment news and about protocols in testing.

You’ll meet doctors and scientists and folks who live and breathe the science and treatments on a daily basis.

The conference is July 24-July 25 at the Renaissance Chicago O’Hare Suites Hotel in the U.S.

2014 American Brain Tumor Association Patient and Family Conference

I just read the email announcement of this year’s ABTA “Patient and Family” conference: http://hope.abta.org/site/TR?fr_id=3070&pg=entry   The email said “The ABTA’s annual patient and family conference is where patients, families and caregivers come together to learn more about the latest advances in brain tumor research, treatment and care.”

While that’s all true, it somehow seems to underplay the importance of the event. Having attended the event I can tell you that I didn’t understand much of it – the displays about new protocols, the layman explanations of the complexities of the diseases or event which presentation I should attend. For example, this year should I go to “Meningiomas: Update in Treatment and Care” or the session on “Low Grade Tumors: Update in Treatment and Care”? Beats me.

Somehow the breakout session on “Brain Tumor Symptom Management” with topics like …

• “Management of Fatigue and Sleep Disorders: What Every Patient Needs to Know”
• “Understanding Seizures,” and
• “Strategies for Coping with Cognitive & Personality Changes”

…all seem really important.

But when I went, the most impactful sessions were the patient presentations. The retelling of their struggles and pain and tenacity resonated at an emotional level that, without giving me false hope, told me that my feelings were valid, and felt by many others.

If you are a victim, a victim’s friend or a caregiver, take a long look at the website an program.

“Promising Target Found in Treating Deadly Brain Cancer” (GBM)

That was the headline of July 1st ScienceDaily.com article that got me hopeful.

Here’s the lead paragraph of the article: “Researchers at the University of Virginia Cancer Center have identified a promising target for treating glioblastoma, one that appears to avoid many of the obstacles that typically frustrate efforts to develop effective treatments for this deadliest of cancers.”

Further down the article notes that "Glioblastoma is difficult to treat because it is persistent, aggressive and resourceful. Efforts to block its pathways are often unsuccessful because the cancer simply uses others. That has researchers looking for ways to inhibit multiple pathways at once, or targeting critical signaling nodes that control multiple pathways."

But there's promising, if not outright good news.

"We're finding that we're not having a lot of luck, often, when we just inhibit a single target in cancer cells, so we're really interested in finding targets specific targets that control many pathways to cancer," Purow explained. And he thinks he's found one: Diacylglycerol kinase alpha. By targeting this lipid-modifying enzyme, the UVA researchers believe, they can inhibit and kill glioblastoma cells and other forms of cancer, such as melanoma.

"This is an exciting new target in cancer," said UVA's Benjamin W. Purow, MD. "It seems to have potential not just for brain tumors but for other cancers as well. We think it has activity on its own, but also in combination with other cancer therapies."

Here’s a link to the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130701163741.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_9151986_an-illustrated-dna-strand-with-the-words-brain-cancer-embedded-in-the-chain-symbolizing-the-disease-.html'>iqoncept / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Free Evanston NorthShore Presentation on Treating Brain Tumors

If you live in the Chicago area and want to know more about treating brain tumors, here’s a free presentation at NorthShore’s Evanston Hospital. The presentation is entitled “Understanding Cancer Seminar: Treating Brain Tumors - A Collaborative Approach to Care.” Here’s a link for more information and to register: https://www.northshore.org/apps/calendar/Detail.aspx?id=17796

 

Please understand that I’m bias when I recommend the Evanston NorthShore Hospital -  including their surgeons, nurses, attendants, chefs and everybody else - as they did a great job on my tumor through a number of surgeries.