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Brain Stem Cells Shed Bit of Hope for Gliomas

by Gloria Gamat on January 19th, 2007

Gliomas are the scariest group of brain tumors, the most common type of which is the most aggressive.

Malignant gliomas are least affected by chemotherapy and radiation. Patients only survive a year after diagnosis.

Shedding light into this seeming hopeless, fatal condition, Lund University (Sweden) research suggests that stem cells from the brain can be developed to treat gliomas.

Using the following theories:

• Neural stem cells have been shown to have the ability to recognize signals from tumor cells in the brain and migrate there.
• If stem cells are injected into a part of the brain in laboratory animals with a glioma in another part of their brain, the stem cells migrate over to the tumor area.This has spawned the idea of having stem cells transport drugs or immune stimulants to the tumor.

…the researchers found that the stem cells themselves had anti-tumor properties. As described by Karin Staflin in her dissertation (entitled: Neural progenitor cells in malignancy and injury of the brain: A Trojan horse for gliomas?):

“We were truly amazed when we saw this effect! To be sure about the phenomenon, we ran several experiments with other stem cells, and it was confirmed that certain neural stem cells actually have an anti-tumor.

Cells in aggressive malignant cancer forms are often characterized as being more immature than their environment. This may be what enables neural stem cells to affect intestinal cancer cells.”

Such finding is of new angle on the issue and though still a long shot to clinical testing, the prospects are potentially worthy of future exploration.

Source: Science Daily

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