Crohn's Disease Medication Helps Patients With Brain Cancer ...

(dailyRx)

Ted Kennedy's first symptom of brain cancer was the seizure he had in 2008. Seizures are commonly the first sign that's something's wrong among patients who have gliomas.

Researchers have found what's at the heart of brain tumors and the onset of seizures. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) team has also found that a medication used to treat Crohn's Disease blocks these seizures and may slow the growth of the tumor.

Ask your oncologist about Azulfidine.

In a study published online in the September 11, 2011 issue of Nature Medicine, investigators showed that glioma cells flood healthy neurons with a neurotransmitter called glutamate.

Glutamate helps neurons communicate with each other. But tumor cells create a tremendous amount of glutamate, "100-fold beyond normal,? said lead investigator, Harald Sontheimer, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology at UAB.

This action creates a state of "hyper-excitability" leads to seizures. This vast amount of glutamate also overwhelms and kills healthy neurons, which in turn frees room for the tumor to grow.

Sontheimer's team also discovered that Azulfidine (sufasalazine), a medication that treats Crohn's disease and some types of arthritis, blocks the tumor from releasing glutamate. This then prohibited the seizures and also stemmed the growth of the tumor.

This discovery came after working with mice that had human glial cells.

In its current formulation, Azulfidine isn't totally efficient in treating gliomas. Sontheimer suggests the drug could be re-formulated to treat primary brain tumors and? human clinical trials are warranted.

Meanwhile, Sontheimer says the existing drug could be used and may be valuable to some degree, particularly in early stage tumors.

Brain Tumors

Each year in the United States, over 25,000 people will be newly diagnosed with some form of primary malignant brain tumor, and over 90,000 people are currently living with the disease and undergoing treatment. Approximately 13,000 of these patients will die from the disease, representing 2% of all cancer deaths.

Brain tumors encompass a wide variety of types of cancer, some more aggressive than others. They include:

• Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) ? A deadly tumor forming in the white matter of the brain. Makes up 52% of all cerebral tumors and most common in white and Asian men over age 50. It is very difficult to treat and average survival after diagnosis is 14 months.
• Astrocytoma ? a tumor that forms from the glial cells in the brain (support cells for neurons). These can be benign or malignant (GBM is a form of astrocytoma) and appear in young children as well.
• Oligodendroglioma ? arise from the oligodendrocytes (insulating cells for axoms). They appear mostly in adults around age 35 and represent about 10% of all primary brain tumors and tend to recur after treatment.
• Ependymoma ? arises from tissues in the brain that surround the drainage system of the brain. They represent about 5% of adult brain tumors, and 10% of pediatric brain tumors, peaking at age 35 and earlier at age 5. Often they end up causing hydrocephalus, or ?water on the brain."

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Brain tumors are caused by a change in genetics, much like any other cancer that causes cells to grow out of control. Some brain tumors are associated with specific chromosomal changes, but in most cases, the cause of a brain tumor is unknown, and due to some combination of genetic instability and environmental damage.

Symptoms of a brain tumor depend mainly on the size of the tumor and where it is located in the brain. Because the brain is housed in the skull, a growing tumor will cause something called mass effect, where the enlarging tumor is taking up too much space and cause increased pressure in the brain. This can cause terrible headaches, nausea, vomiting, and changes in consciousness among other specific signs. In other cases, the growing tumor may encroach upon a part of the brain that has a specific function, and cause that function to cease. Depending on what part of the brain the tumor is in, language, motor coordination, vision, balance, and paralysis can occur. In both cases, a brain tumor can present immediately or after several years of growing.

Diagnosis of a brain tumor will ultimately be made by CT scan and MRI. Treatment of brain tumors involves surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, or some combination of the three. Each modality presents its own risks and benefits. Surgery is sometimes not possible because of risk to damage of vital brain structures necessary for life.

Prognosis for a brain tumor is entirely dependent on the type of tumor and its location. Some tumors grow very fast and are inoperable due to the cell type and location, and these patients have a poor prognosis. Other brain tumors can be lived with for years, or quickly and easily treated with surgery.

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Source: http://www.dailyrx.com/news-article/azulfidine-works-slow-growth-growth-gliomas-15239.html

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