Fluorescent drugs target tumours of most lethal brain cancer
Fluorescent drugs could be used to locate brain cancers and help surgeons remove them, an Australian study has found.
Fluorescent drugs could be used to locate brain cancers, and help surgeons remove them, an Australian study has found.
A team led by researcher Sarah Best, of the Melbourne-based Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, has studied low-grade glioma (LGG) cancers and found a drug could travel down certain pathways in the brain, showing the full mass and shape of the tumour.
“Glioblastoma patients, when they undergo neurosurgery, receive a drink colloquially known as the ‘pink drink’, which is a drug called 5-ALA,” Dr Best said.
“That actually interacts with the metabolism of the glioblastoma tumour cells and it makes them fluoresce pink during the surgery.”
Gliomas have the poorest survival rate of any brain cancer. LGG is the second most common brain cancer globally, behind meningioma, with 55,000 cases a year.
It commonly affects young, high-functioning patients, and half of all cases return after surgery due to fragments left in the brain.
“This really is one of those blue-sky experiments,” Dr Best said. “It’s not going to be finished in one or two years, but we’re really building the foundations to bridge this gap that we’ve identified for the treatment of low-grade glioma patients.”
Dr Best and her team are working to identify the pathways necessary for the drug by mapping where various cells are in a tissue sample.
The study was funded in part by the Cancer Council, which marks the cancer awareness Daffodil Day on Thursday.
Last year Daffodil Day raised about $2.5m for research.
Fluorescent treatment for glioblastoma was first used in Australia at the Royal Melbourne Hospital by professor Kate Drummond.
Dr Best’s multidisciplinary lab is also the first at WEHI to feature three head researchers, as she’s accompanied by data scientist Saskia Freytag, and oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Jim Whittle.
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