Brain Metastasis

Research conducted at the University of Oxford and published in the journal PLoS One, has succeeded in identifying the mechanism by which cancer cells can enter the blood vessels to the brain. This will be useful for making new types of drugs with mechanisms that prevent cancer cells from spreading and growing in the brain.

Metastasis is the process of spreading and growing cancer cells from the main cancer mass to the surrounding organs. This is the main reason why cancer is a dangerous disease and causes death.

Metastases to the brain are the most common cause of cancer that develops in the brain or central nervous system. The number of brain metastases is up to 10 times that of cancer originating from the brain itself (original). Once cancer cells metastasize to the brain, the patient's prognosis in the future is not very good. Generally, patients can only survive 9 months with maximum therapy. About 20% of all cancer patients will metastasize to the brain.

"Metastasis to the brain is a terminal stage of cancer and very little is known about this process," said dr. W Shawn Carbonell, a postdoctoral researcher at MRC/CRUK Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology, University of Oxford. "However, by conducting various studies on this matter, it is hoped that we will be able to provide a better therapy to overcome the spread of this cancer."

A research team from the University of Oxford led by professor Ruth Muschel from the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology tried to answer the question: how do cancer cells grow and develop in the brain? They studied various types of cancer cells from both humans and mice (breast cancer cells, melanoma, lymphoma) and examined how these cancer cells grow in the brain (in vitro).

The researchers found that cancer cells started growing through the walls of the brain's blood vessels in 95% of cases, rather than in the nerve cells directly. Researchers suspect that by controlling the blood vessels in the brain, cancer cells will obtain nutrients and oxygen and can reproduce without the need to grow their own blood vessels. In addition, cancer cells need brain blood vessels to invade the whole brain.

The dependence of cancer cells on blood vessels in the brain is an opening to help find new therapies for cancer, said professor Muschel. This discovery is one part of the puzzle where it is a breakthrough to find a therapy to prevent the spread of cancer cells in the brain. (*/yon/photo:corbis)

Source: Relax.com