Medical News Today posted an article regarding a new study that was done with mice. This is not uncommon in the field of brain tumor research, especially when you take into account that there has been tremendous success in the past. With great results found in these creatures, it has been likely that humans could benefit in similar fashions. After seeing what exactly this particular study had to offer, I was pleasantly surprised with the results in question and the potential that they have for the future.
The report in question talked about how workers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine have been able to go about research with a new drug brought into effect. The drug has been referred to as 5-azacytidine and it is one that can prove useful in the realm of brain tumor research. After all, this has been able to be brought into effect in a pre-leukemia condition. There have been strong results seen thanks to this usage, which can be looked into by organizations like Voices against Brain Cancer.
The drug in question was said to be able to target a certain aspect of gliomas; these are the most common, aggressive types of growths seen in the brain. They would focus on IDH1, which was uncovered during 2008 by those in the same university. It's a mutation that is found in a great amount of lower-grade tumors, about 70 to 80 percent to be more specific. With such an alteration set in place, the protein cannot process glucose, meaning energy cannot be attained.
That way that 5-azacytidine was administered was through mice, which was done during a period of 14 weeks. What was seen by the end of the process was that tumor growth had been reduced tremendously and a relapse had not been seen as well. After drug administration had been halted, tumors did not come back after 7 weeks. Tumors have a tough time regressing with certain treatments but that is what the case was in this regard and it is beneficial, to put it lightly.
Researchers typically do not expect to see tumor regression, which speaks volumes about how strong this study was in the realm of brain tumor research. These findings could prove useful in the future if the mice utilized have seen positive results. Is it possible that humans will be able to benefit from such processes in the long term as well? I like to think that this will be the case but it is just a matter of time as potential work will be gone about.
The report in question talked about how workers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine have been able to go about research with a new drug brought into effect. The drug has been referred to as 5-azacytidine and it is one that can prove useful in the realm of brain tumor research. After all, this has been able to be brought into effect in a pre-leukemia condition. There have been strong results seen thanks to this usage, which can be looked into by organizations like Voices against Brain Cancer.
The drug in question was said to be able to target a certain aspect of gliomas; these are the most common, aggressive types of growths seen in the brain. They would focus on IDH1, which was uncovered during 2008 by those in the same university. It's a mutation that is found in a great amount of lower-grade tumors, about 70 to 80 percent to be more specific. With such an alteration set in place, the protein cannot process glucose, meaning energy cannot be attained.
That way that 5-azacytidine was administered was through mice, which was done during a period of 14 weeks. What was seen by the end of the process was that tumor growth had been reduced tremendously and a relapse had not been seen as well. After drug administration had been halted, tumors did not come back after 7 weeks. Tumors have a tough time regressing with certain treatments but that is what the case was in this regard and it is beneficial, to put it lightly.
Researchers typically do not expect to see tumor regression, which speaks volumes about how strong this study was in the realm of brain tumor research. These findings could prove useful in the future if the mice utilized have seen positive results. Is it possible that humans will be able to benefit from such processes in the long term as well? I like to think that this will be the case but it is just a matter of time as potential work will be gone about.
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