Brain cancer

Drug nanoparticles could be delivered directly to the brain through a nasal spray, which is then further targeted to the right area by ultrasound waves

Medical

Nasal spray and ultrasound team up for direct-to-brain drug delivery

The blood-brain barrier is an effective shield against infection, but it’s not so helpful when you’re trying to get drugs in there. Nasal sprays could bypass the barrier, and now researchers have developed a way to use ultrasound pulses to drive the drugs to where in the brain they’re needed.

The first wave of results present a mixed bag to a new treatment for brain cancer that uses a genetically modified virus to help target aggressive tumors

Medical

Mixed results for early human trial using poliovirus to treat deadly brain cancer

Researchers have recently revealed the results from a Phase 1 trial investigating the efficacy of an experimental treatment using a genetically modified poliovirus to attack a lethal form of brain cancer. The results are mildly promising but don’t suggest this will be a magic bullet of a treatment.

An artist's rendition of MIT's new nanoparticles, which can carry two forms of drug to combat brain cancer

Medical

Nanoparticles carry drug duo into the brain to fight cancer

Those diagnosed with glioblastoma don’t have many treatment options – and usually a median life expectancy of just over a year. Now, researchers at MIT have developed nanoparticles that could provide hope, crossing the blood-brain barrier and delivering two types of drugs to fight tumors.

Medical

New research into CAR-T cell therapy could extend its use to solid cancers

New research into CAR-T cell therapy has revealed crucial mechanisms that could help the immunotherapy technique, which is currently only effective against blood cancers, be adapted for the treatment of brain tumors and other forms of solid cancers.

A new study is showing how a common virus can help the immune system find and kill cancer cells in the brain

Medical

The virus that can attack brain tumors and stimulate the immune system to do the same

Remarkable new research from scientists in the UK has shown how a naturally occurring, and mostly harmless, virus is being recruited into attacking brain cancer and enhancing the tumor-targeting abilities of the body’s own immune system.

On the left are the brain cancer cells before being treated with the Zika virus and on the right is after the treatment

Medical

Zika enlisted for the fight against brain cancer

For well over half a century, scientists have been working to harness the cell-destroying power of viruses in the battle against cancer. The latest addition to this arsenal comes from an unlikely source, the relatively new Zika virus, which could offer a new way to fight deadly brain cancers.

New research has shown that human skin cells can be transformed into stem cells, and used to hunt down brain cancer

Medical

Stem cells beat the clock for brain cancer

Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer that kills most patients within two years of diagnosis. Tests on mice last year showed that stem cells can hunt down the tumors, and now the process has worked with human cells, and can be quick enough to beat the ticking time-bombs.

A hydrogel scaffold created by Whitehead Institute researchers so closely replicates the environment found within the human breast that the scaffold supports the growth of human mammary tissue from patient-derived cells

Medical

Growth of functional breast tissue spawns a new weapon in cancer research

Researchers have built a hydrogel scaffold said to mimic the environment found within the human breast. And by using it to grow real mammary tissue, scientists are hoping to uncover new insights into how tumors spread through this part of the body.

Reprogrammed stem cells (green) chase down and kill glioblastoma cells (pink)

Medical

Ordinary skin cells turned into brain tumor predators

In what it labels as a first, a team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has built on previous technology to transform adult skin cells into cancer-killing stem cells that seek and destroy brain tumors.

Penn State researchers found that an engineered fat cell was able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier in mice and seek out early stage tumors

Medical

Engineered fat cells slip through blood-brain barrier to illuminate early-stage tumors

A new type of engineered fat cell could make early-stage, difficult-to-detect brain tumors more treatable, by penetrating the blood-brain barrier and revealing their presence at a much earlier stage of development.