Scientists Building Better Brain Tissue
July 30th 2010 22:15
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(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Researchers have studied live cancer cells under the microscope for decades in flat, plastic petri dishes. They offer a good look at the cells, but don’t necessarily tell scientists how the cells interact in humans. To change that, scientists at Ohio State University are working to build better brain tissue in the laboratory that could revolutionize their approach to treating certain types of cancer.
Scientists and engineers at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center are using what are called nano-fibers to build better brain tissue to study cancer. The tissue is man-made, but is remarkably similar to tissue that grows naturally in our brains.
The nano-fibers look like tiny white spider webs, but under the microscope they’re the exact size and spacing of human brain tissue. Cancer cells behave more naturally on this material than they do on plastic - giving scientists a more realistic environment to develop drugs that work.
“The behavior of tumor cells in this environment is much more similar to the behavior in the real tumor,” says Mariano Viapiano, PhD, a biologist at Ohio State University.
The 3-D, simulated test surface the nano-particle tissue provides could someday help patients like Samantha Jaglowski. While studying to become a cancer doctor herself, she developed a brain tumor - and her doctor said surgery was her only option.
“He took me to the operating room and spent the next nine hours painstakingly removing this 50 cubic centimeter mass from my brain stem,” Jaglowski says.
Thanks to this new approach, treatments for tumors like Samantha’s may change. Doctors could someday take a biopsy of a tumor, put it in this tissue and try out different medicines on it - all in the lab.
“Those treatments that we are doing are specific for that biopsy, for that patient. That will allow us eventually to determine the best potential treatment for that particular patient,’” says Dr. Viapiano.
This new, 3-D model was designed to help with brain cancer research, but could be adapted to help find treatments for other conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and autism.
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