AIDS Drug Slows Spread of Deadly Childhood Brain Cancer

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- A drug approved to combat AIDS may also help slow the spread of a deadly type of brain tumor that tends to attack children.

A study published in the current issue of the International Journal of Cancer reports that ABC (Abacavir) suppresses the enzyme telomerase. Telomerase activity appears to be essential for certain tumor survival and growth, such as medulloblastoma -- a highly malignant cancer of the central nervous system.

In an international study, treatment with ABC improved the survival rate of medulloblastoma patients, although it did not cure them.

However, the medication appeared better tolerated by patients than other drugs used to target telomerase in trials, and ABC's safety record in long-term AIDS treatment would make it a good treatment option, lead researcher Francesca Pentimalli, an assistant adjunct professor at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, said in a news release issued by the institute. The drug was also able to pass through the blood-brain barrier more easily than other tested compounds, so it could reach the medulloblastoma.

"Our report suggests further consideration and study of the use of ABC as an anti-telomerase agent in cancer," Pentimalli said.

Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Gives $6 Million to Further Childhood Brain Tumor Research at Duke

Brain Tumor Survival Predicted By New Imaging Analysis

As early as one week after beginning treatment for brain tumors, a new imaging analysis method was able to predict which patients would live longer, researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found.

The method uses a standard magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, protocol to monitor changes over time in tumor blood volume within individual voxels of the image, rather than a composite view of average change within the tumor. This parametric response map allowed researchers to see specific areas in which tumor blood volume increased or decreased, that may have canceled each other out when looking at the changes as an average.

Results of the study appear in the advance online edition of Nature Medicine.

"What we have potentially is a generalized analytical approach that we can use to quantify treatment intervention in patients," says study author Brian Ross, Ph.D., professor of radiology and biological chemistry at the U-M Medical School and co-director of the Molecular Imaging Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The researchers looked at 44 people with high-grade glioma, a type of brain tumor, who were treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Each participant underwent MRIs before treatment, and one week and three weeks after starting treatment. The researchers then looked at the relative cerebral blood volume and the relative cerebral blood flow of the tumor to analyze voxel-wise changes among the serial scans.

Looking at standard comparisons using averages, the scans indicated no change one week and three weeks into treatment. But, using the parametric response map approach, the researchers were able to show changes in the tumor's blood volume and blood flow after one week that corresponded to the patient's overall survival.

"We're seeing treatment response earlier into the treatment, and responses that couldn't be detected at all looking at average changes. We could detect this after just one week, which is amazing for brain tumors," says study author Craig Galbán, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology at the U-M Medical School.

High grade gliomas have a high mortality rate, with people surviving only an average of 12 months after diagnosis. Typically, patients receive six to seven weeks of treatment, followed by a traditional MRI scan six weeks after completing therapy to determine if the tumor shrank. If the cancer did not respond to the treatment, a new approach may be tried.

The researchers believe this approach might also be useful with other imaging techniques such as PET and CT scans.

Additional authors: Thomas Chenevert, Ph.D.; Charles Meyer, Ph.D.; Christina Tsien, M.D., Theodore Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.; Daniel Hamstra, M.D., Ph.D.; Larry Junck, M.D.; Pia Sundgren, M.D., Ph.D.; Timothy D. Johnson, Ph.D.; David Ross; and Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Ph.D.

Funding: National Institutes of Health

Disclosure: The University of Michigan has filed a patent application on this technology.

Reference: Nature Medicine, doi: 10.1038/nm.1919

Source: Nicole Fawcett
University of Michigan Health System