Also included in: Neurology / neuroscience
Article Date: 19 may 2013-0:00 PDT current ratings for:
Non-surgical treatments for multiple tumors approximation One Step
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Plymouth peninsula schools of medicine and dentistry has revealed for the first time how the loss of a particular tumor suppressing protein leads to the abnormal growth tumours of the brain and the nervous system.
The study is published in the brain: A Journal of Neurology.
Tumour suppressors exist in cells to prevent abnormal cell division in our body. The loss of a known tumor suppressor Merlin leads to tumors in many types of cells in our nervous system. There are two copies of a tumor suppressor, one on each chromosome that we inherit from our parents. The loss of Merlin may be caused by the random loss of two copies in a single cell, causing sporadic tumours, or by inheriting an abnormal copy and lose the second copy throughout our lives as seen in hereditary disease neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2).
With sporadic loss or hereditary NF2, these tumors lack the Merlin protein develop in the Schwann cells that form the sheaths that surround and electrically isolate the neurons. These tumors are called schwannomas, but tumors can also arise in cells that form the membrane around the brain and spinal cord and the cells that line the ventricles of the brain.
Although the schwannomas are benign and slow growing, they are common and come in numbers. The number of tumors caused by this genetic defect can overwhelm a patient, often leading to the death, invalidity and possibly hearing loss. Patients can suffer 20 to 30 tumors at any time, and the condition usually manifests in adolescence and adulthood.
No effective treatment for these tumors there, other than the repeated invasive surgery or radiation to a single tumor at a time and that is unlikely to eradicate the entire tumor.
The study of the brain studied how the loss of a protein called Sox10 functions in these tumors. Sox10 is known to play a major role in the development of Schwann cells, but this is the first time, it has been shown to be involved in the growth of tumor cells Schwannoma. By understanding the mechanism, the research team has paved the way for new therapies to develop which will provide a viable alternative to surgery or radiotherapy.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Plymouth peninsula schools of medicine and dentistry with colleagues from the State University of New York and the University Erlangen-Nurnberg, was led by Professor David Parkinson.
He said: "we have for the first time shown that human Schwannoma cells reduced expression of Sox10 and messenger RNA protein. '' By identifying this correlation and understand the mechanism of this process, we hope that drug-based therapies can in time be created and introduced to reduce or deny the need for surgery or radiation therapy. ?
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May 20. 2013
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