Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Can Brain Tumors Become Impacted By Immune Cells

Can Brain Tumors Become Impacted By Immune Cells

By Rob Sutter


Anyone who understands brain tumors in general sense can tell you a bit about glioblastoma. Seen as the deadly form of cancer in the brain, it is apparent that research is going to be done with this set in place. What are some of the methods that can prove useful in removing these tumors from the brain and for there to be results that will stand in the long term? It seems as though there are immune cells to consider but I did not realize that there were so many details.

Medical News Today posted an article about specialized immune cells & their deactivated states in the brain tumors seen in the body. However, there have been clinical trials put to use and they were done so thanks to those belonging to the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute. Keep in mind that there were therapies put into place before, as organizations such as Voices against Brain Cancer can state. However, not many of them have been tremendously effective, seeing as how there's only been a median survival of 15 months or so.

You may be curious as to how these immune cells can function in order to help those who are afflicted with tumors. The report said that microglia, the immune cells, are ones that can come into effect for the sake of helping the body in the face of infection, injury, and the sort. Microglia operates as the brain's immune system of sorts and perhaps no other term could be as accurate. In fact, the way that these cells work is that they target the stem cells, which work to bring tumors to the surface, and eliminate them at a rapid pace.

There was a study spoken about in the report and there were many details about immune cells and how they would be able to relate to the tumors seen in the brain. A particular drug called amphotericin B was utilized in order to help bring microglia back to an active taste. It is an especially potent drug when you consider the impact that it had in regards to fungal infections, not only in the brain but the spinal cord as well. This is important to keep in mind, especially when results have been especially strong.

The drug was able to help the body's natural defense mechanisms, which translated into the halted progression of tumor growth in general. The mice lived two to three times longer after the study was done, so who is to say that this wouldn't become applied to humans? In fact, I'd like to think that this would be one of the most helpful therapies, provided it has the legs to stand on its own. From what I have seen, I think that the results are ones not to be ignored.




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