Hijacking the brain’s blood supply: Tumor discovery could aid treatment
Dangerous brain tumors hijack the brain’s existing blood supply throughout their progression, by growing only within narrow potential spaces between and along the brain’s thousands of small blood vessels, new research shows for the first time.
(Caption: This microscopic view of a mouse brain tumor shows small clusters of tumor cells (in green), marked with white arrows, growing along tiny blood vessels (in red) in the brain and filling the space in between the vessels.)
The findings contradict the concept that brain tumors need to grow their own blood vessels to keep themselves growing – and help explain why drugs that aim to stop growth of the new blood vessels have failed in clinical trials to extend the lives of patients with the worst brain tumors.
In fact, trying to block the growth of new blood vessels in the brain actually spurs malignant tumors called gliomas to grow faster and further, the research shows. On the hopeful side, the research suggests a new avenue for finding better drugs.
The discoveries come from a University of Michigan Medical School team studying tumors in rodents and humans, and advanced computer models, in collaboration with colleagues from Arizona State University. Published online in the journal Neoplasia, they’ll be featured as the journal’s cover article later this month.
