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The growth of brain tumor is halted with abemaciclib: a novel new drug

Meningioma is a brain tumor that is not metastatic and occurs even after a patient undergoes surgery and radiation. In such a situation, the patient with brain tumor is left with no treatment option.

Such aggressive tumors cannot be treated with drugs. These tumors occur in about 20% of the cases, making patients disabled or even prone to death.

Currently, researchers at the Northwestern University of Medicine have collaborated with the University of California and the University of Hong Kong.

They are on a mission to develop a novel drug that can inhibits the development of meningiomas. They are the most aggressive form of brain tumors. They are also working on identifying how accurately the drug are effective in destroying meningiomas.

These scientists have developed a new drug named abemaciclib, which is an anti-cancer agent. The drug was tested successful in a human clinical trial of selected patients. It was also tested on animal model of mouse.

Moreover, a three-dimensional brain tumor was extracted from living tissues. Such a tumor was known as organoids, and the drug was tested on this organoid and other cell cultures.

Investigators created two subgroups of meningiomas as their clinical outcome and recurrence rates were different. This new method of classifying tumors was more effective in predicting the recurrence rate as compared to the existing method.

Currently, patients with brain tumor have to undergo surgery. After undergoing surgery, a specimen of the tumor is examined by the doctor under a microscope and graded according to its aggression: one, two, or three.

But gradation of tumors has only 70% accuracy level. This implies that some tumors would behave in a way that does not resemble the specimen observed under the microscope.

In this study, we identified the patient who were suitable for being treated with abemaciclib, the novel anti-cancer drug. It is highly likely that the brain tumor of these patients would respond to this drug.

According to the lead investigator of this study, the drug has the potential to give such patients a longer life that is devoid of any symptoms. Dr. Stephen Magill is the corresponding author of this study and practices neurological surgery at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. This study was published in the esteemed journal Nature Genetics.

 

 

 

 

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Can Alzheimer’s be treated with aspirin?

Plaques developed in the brain can be eliminated with a low-dose aspirin, which is an effective drug that suppresses the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The drug aspirin is very effective in protecting the memory of patients. These are the latest findings reported by neurologists at the Rush University Medical Center. The results of this study were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Our study is path-breaking and novel in the sense that aspirin is one of the most commonly used medication for various illnesses. More than 1 out of 10 Americans was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive form of dementia. Very few drugs have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of Alzheimer’s-related complications, such as dementia. Presently, only temporary relief is provided by these medications.

Researchers still do not know the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease; however, researchers know the cause of dementia and memory loss, which is associated with the faulty disposal of amyloid beta. Amyloid beta is the most toxic protein to have been developed in the human brain. Researchers believe that the most important strategy for eliminating the progression of Alzheimer’s illness would be the activation of cellular machinery. Waste can be removed from the human brain with this machinery.

Amyloid plaques are clumps formed by the toxic protein amyloid beta. The connection between nerve cells would be harmed by amyloid plaques. Such a development is one of the major signs of Alzheimer’s illness. There seems to be a link between the reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and the consumption of aspirin. The most important component of animal cells, the lysosomes, is very useful in clearing cellular debris. In mice, lysosomes could be stimulated with aspirin. Aspirin is the component that decreases amyloid plaque.

The incidence, progression, and development of Alzheimer’s disease could be stopped by elucidating the development of amyloid plaques. To regulate the removal of waste products from the human body, a protein named TFEB. Aspirin was administered orally to mice, which were genetically modified to develop the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.

To determine the parts of brain most affected by Alzheimer’s disease, we determined the amount of amyloid plaque in these subjects. In mice, the functions of aspirin medications are as follows: i) to augment the expression of TFEB, ii) stimulate the expression of lysosomes, and iii) decrease the pathology of amyloid plaque.

Aspirin is the most widely used medication for pain relief; moreover, it is also used extensively for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The findings of these research studies must be validated further. Aspirin could be soon considered as a therapeutic drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s illness and other diseases related to dementia.