Starving brain cancer
July 25th 2010 22:25
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Brain cancer is a type of growth that occurs when there is an uncontrolled amount of cancer cells in the brain. It’s caused by a malignant or a benign brain tumor. The most aggressive kind of brain tumor is called glioblastoma. Brain cancer is one of the leading causes of death from cancer in the United States. It causes more than 12,000 deaths each year. Brain tumors are usually caused by a change in genetic structure. This change may be inherited, caused by the environment, or both.
There are two main types of brain cancer: primary cancer, where the cancer originates in the brain itself and secondary cancer, which is the more common of the two. Secondary cancer is caused by a cancer that has begun in another part of the body and has spread to the brain.
TREATMENT:
Treatment varies depending on the type of brain cancer, the size, its location, the stage of advancing, a patient’s age and the presence of other cancer in the body. The most common treatment is surgery to remove all or part of the cancerous tumor, followed by radiation therapy to help ensure any cancer cells that remain after surgery have been killed. A regular follow-up care regimen is also very important to help monitor a patient’s condition.
RESEARCH:
Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center are working to find a new way to kill brain cancer by starving the cells to death. The cancer uses fat cells to grow, divide and move. Studies have shown that while healthy cells take up the fat they need to function, the cancer cells prefer to be autonomous. By inhibiting fatty acid synthesis in the brain, this option will literally cut off the cancer energy source. The team at UCLA found the epidermal grow factor receptor (EGFR), when amplified, does make cells more depended on fatty acids synthesis. When interrupted, it results in massive cell death. Drugs that turn off the production of fatty acids are already being used in weight loss drugs, but they may cause toxicity in cancer patients. The focus now is figuring out how to turn off the fatty acids without the side effects.
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