Posted on 08/10/2022 7:02:33 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Researchers have identified a molecular pathway responsible for the spread of glioblastoma to surrounding tissue in the brain, as well as an existing drug that curbed tumor growth in animal models.
Researchers have long considered the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a protein that sits on the surface of cells, as a driver of this cancer. In nearly half of glioblastoma patients, the gene that codes for EGFR is amplified, causing tumor cells to proliferate.
EGFR on glioblastoma cells can send these signals in two ways: either without prompting, a state known as constitutive signaling, or when stimulated with proteins called ligands. The differences between these two pathways have been considered inconsequential, Dr. Habib said. Thus, glioblastoma patients with amplified EGFR have been grouped together in clinical trials.
Dr. Habib and colleagues in the Habib lab and elsewhere showed that when cells with amplified EGFR were stimulated with ligands, this receptor appeared to act as a tumor suppressor, preventing invasion into healthy tissue both in laboratory and animal models. Further experiments showed that a cytoskeletal protein called BIN3 appears to be responsible for inhibiting this invasion. When the researchers dosed animals with amplified EGFR glioblastoma tumors with an FDA-approved arthritis drug called tofacitinib that increases the amount of EGFR ligands and BIN3, tumors remained smaller and were less likely to invade healthy brain tissue. Additionally, these animals survived significantly longer than animals that didn't receive this drug.
Dr. Habib noted that tofacitinib could offer a new way to extend life for patients with both amplified EGFR and a relatively high level of EGFR ligands, a strategy he and his colleagues will explore in a clinical trial launching in September. For patients without high ligand numbers, he added, strategies previously explored to inhibit EGFR could potentially extend survival.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I'm a physician.
I know of one case in which the husband of one woman and the son of her sister both died of glioblastoma multiforme. It seems obvious to me that whatever the causative agent is, it was passed on from these two sisters, from one to the husband, from the other to her son.
BTTT
It’s approved for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and ulcerative colitis. In other words, a set of inflammatory/autoimmune conditions that are mediated by the JAK inhibition of tofacitinib.
It’s reasonable to think that cancer could, in many cases, be the result of an inflammatory process that the body overcompensates for...
That seems like one hell of an inference. Could be a coincidence or there could be an environmental cause that didn't pass through the sisters.
I hate cancer. I hope this leads to something important.
My sister died of this - she made it 8 years but in the end complications of a stroke killed her. I am under frequent surveillance by the University of Washington because of family ties.
It is also is or was used as a test drug for psoriasis. I was a Pfizer lab rat for a time....
I take 1k of turmeric daily and have not looked back. Skin is clear now and arthritis and other issues at an all time low.
My sister also but only 8 months. I hope and pray for something to combat this terrible disease.
I have also heard that the Polio virus somehow helped to fight GBM. Of course, all of these new tools only extend the life of the patient and do not cure GBM. However, extending someone’s life is very important as I wish we had that capability when my father was diagnosed with GBM back in 2011. After having some disorienting headaches, he went from driving himself to the doctor for an MRI to leaving us 7 weeks later. This cancer is pure evil and ranks up there with Pancreatic Cancer for mortality rates.
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