Deadly brain cancer can alter skull, immune response: Study

Glioblastomas the deadliest form of brain cancer affect much more than just the brain scientists have foundA team from the Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center MECCC and Albert Einstein College of Medicine has found the first evidence to show that glioblastoma can erode the skull alter the makeup of skull marrow and interfere with the bodys immune responseImportantly drugs intended to inhibit skullbone loss made the cancer more aggressive according to results published in the journal Nature NeuroscienceOur discovery that this notoriously hardtotreat brain cancer interacts with the bodys immune system may help explain why current therapies all of them dealing with glioblastoma as a local disease have failed and it will hopefully lead to better treatment strategies said corresponding author Jinan Behnan Assistant Professor Department of Neurological Surgery and in the department of microbiology and immunology at EinsteinThe median survival of glioblastoma patients who receive standard treatment of surgery chemotherapy and radiation is approximately 15 monthsAs is true for many other bones the skull contains marrow in which immune cells and other blood cells formUsing advanced imaging techniques on mice that developed two different types of glioblastomas the team found that the tumours caused skull bones to erode especially along the sutures where skull bones fuseSuch erosions seem to be unique to glioblastoma and other malignant intracranial tumours since they dont occur with strokes other types of brain damage or even other systemic cancersComputerisedtomography CT images of patients with glioblastoma revealed that decreases in skull thickness were present in the same anatomic areas as in miceThe skull erosions in the mice increased the number and diameter of the skulltobone channels The researchers hypothesised that these channels might allow the glioblastoma to transmit signals to the skull marrow that could profoundly change its immune landscapeFurther the team found that glioblastoma activated several genes in the skull marrow that boosted production of inflammatory immune cells but in femur marrow the cancer suppressed genes needed to produce several types of immune cellsNotably they found that administering US FDAapproved antiosteoporosis drugs zoledronic acid and denosumab that prevent bone loss can halt skull erosion However zoledronic acid fuelled tumour progression in one type of glioblastoma Both drugs also blocked the beneficial effects of antiPDL1 an immunotherapy drug that boosts levels of tumourfighting T cellsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever