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Scientists have demonstrated that an anti-cancer compound can offer hope of new brain cancer treatments.
August 23, 2005

A new study by researchers at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, suggests that a drug which can fight cancers deep inside the brain could be on the way.

Scientists have found that a compound that works to counteract a hormone associated with tumor growth can pass through a membrane called the blood-brain barrier.

This barrier acts to protect the brain because it stops chemicals in the blood from mixing with the fluid that bathes it and the spinal cord.

“The bottom line is, if you can get drugs into the brain, you can cure brain cancer,” said William A. Banks, professor of pharmacological and physiological science at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

The new findings, published online in the August 22 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that when the anti-cancer compound was injected into mice, much of it passed into the brain.

‘There’s a big difference between an animal model and the human condition.’

-William A. Banks,

Saint Louis

University School

Of Medicine

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“We found that peripherally administered iodinated JV-1-42 rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier in therapeutically relevant quantities, indicating this compound holds great potential for the treatment of malignant gliomas,” said the research paper.

Malignant gliomas are brain cancers that currently have a very poor prognosis. According to the researchers, brain tumors are the second and fourth leading causes of cancer mortality in children and young adults.

Optimistic About Findings

Although the study is a very long way from proving a new brain cancer treatment, the researchers are optimistic about their findings.

“There are times when there’s a big difference between an animal model and the human condition,” said Professor Banks.

“Based on previous experience, it is likely these findings in the mouse are applicable to humans, because many aspects of blood-brain barrier permeability… are conserved across species,” said the research paper.

The study was funded by the Medical Research Service of the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department and a Frankfurt, Germany-based subsidiary of Canadian biopharmaceutical company Æterna Zentaris. The Québec-based company focuses on cancer and hormone therapies