Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Brain Tumor Research & Human Cells In Mice

By Robert Sutter


It's apparent that the work done in the medical field is going to be some of the most extensive you can imagine. Mice are commonly utilized in terms of testing out new drugs, which works well before certain drugs are administered to patients. It's good to know that they aren't going to be harmful and that there will be much stronger results in due time. Brain tumor research seems to follow this same kind of process, as evidenced by a recent story that has rightfully seized my attention.

Science Daily posted an article about how John Hopkins researchers have been utilizing mice for the sake of testing an FDA-approved drug. It's relevant to brain tumor research because the mice in question had human tumor cells within them. After the administration of such a drug was done, the growth of such tumors have stopped before there was no trace being found as well. It's the kind of story worth focusing on by organizations such as Voices against Brain Cancer, as you could probably imagine.

The story talked about how there was a mutation found in the IDH1 gene in gliomas back in 2008. According to what was told, about 70 to 80 percent of lower-grade tumors had this mutation, which is something that undeniably helps in the field of research. When this is set in place, it seems like the brain is not able to go about one of its main functions, which is bringing glucose and transferring it into usable energy. While there are challenges in this field, they are not without reason.

Everyone is going to be different in terms of the condition they have, meaning that different methods are going to be set in place. Tumors may be prevalent but the specific types couldn't be more different from one another in terms of how they are structured. Many different components can be brought into account in order to help research along. Knowing that there is a chance for these tumor cells to slow own before ultimately fading away brings a sense of hope to this matter in the medical field.

I believe that there is a great amount of work to be done in the field of brain tumor research and this story is proof of it. I have to believe that this kind of research is one of the most extensive and all you have to do is look at how complicated these growths are to see it. There's a great amount of success to be had with the trial spoke of in this article. I believe that said success can be transitioned into human use but it's going to take some time.




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