Saturday, March 15, 2014

Brain Cancer & The Impact Of A Mechanism

By Katie Arden


When it comes to the progression seen in brain cancer, there are many different details to look into. What are the ones which seem to be the most common, you may wonder? How exactly will certain drugs be reacted to when they are implemented for the sake of helping patients in this regard? From what has been, apparently a mechanism linked to this level of growth has been seen and it has the potential to be one that can help in the various research efforts to come.

Companies along the lines of Voices against Brain Cancer know all too well just how complicated this particular condition can be. Brain cancer is complex and the various cells and substances that are seen lend credence to the idea that certain drugs can come into effect, provided they are safe. In many cases, as an article on Medical Xpress detailed, therapies primarily focus on the progression of glioma, the most malignant type of cancer. The article also detailed how an FDA-approved food additive could come into play.

Medical Xpress spoke about how this food additive was surveyed by two individuals: professor of the University of Vermont Diane M. Jaworski, Ph.D., and Patrick Long, who is a former graduate of the institution. Their attention was placed on an enzyme by the name of aspartoacylase. What this does is break down another compound called N-acetyl-L-aspartate. For those who are unaware, NAA is the primary storage form of acetate seen in the brain. In general, it is able to turn genes on as well as off. In regards to glioma, NAA levels and ASPA expression are lowered.

Even though efforts were made in order to elevate ASPA expression, the truth of the matter was that proliferation was caused, meaning that results would not be positive. However, the article said that a food additive called glyceryl triacetate could be the one to utilize for the purpose of aiding glioma patients. For those who do not know, GTA has been commonly implemented to treat Canavan disease, an inherited disorder that can cause damage to one's brain cells. Children who have this condition, as the article said, die during infancy.

With GTA put to use, though, the article detailed that the results of an experiment proved to be rather successful. Not only was GTA able to decrease the growth of glioma stem cells but it was able to do so while leaving the normal cells unharmed. This alone goes to show that there are possible results to be seen in the future, provided it is a safe compound that anyone would react positively to. With minimal toxicity and very few side-effects, this appears to be the case.




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