New treatment to prevent cancer.

Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly human brain cancers. Radiation can temporarily shrink the tumor but they nearly always recur within weeks or months and a few patients survive longer than two years after diagnosis. Now scientists at the Standford University School of Medicine found a way to stop the cancer cells from growing back. They studied the tumor using mice. This discovery happened when the researchers realized that irradiated tumors turn to a little known pathway to generate blood vessels necessary for regrowth. Martin Brown discovered that the radiation meant to kill the cancer cells also destroys the existing blood vessels that nourish the tumor. As the result of that, it had to rely on a backup blood delivery pathway. Brown and his colleagues used a small molecule called AMD3100 to block this secondary tumor-growth process in the mice. It is possible that the researchers may be able to move relatively quickly into human trials. Still, the researches caution the whole process.



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