Drug that starves cancer cells could be first breakthrough against brain tumors in 20 years

Experts hope a drug that starves cancer cells could be the first breakthrough in the treatment of brain tumors in two decades.

Scientists from Imperial College London conducted tests on mice with glioblastoma (GBM), one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.

They gave the rodents an experimental drug that deprived them of arginine, an essential nutrient that tumors use to grow.

The treated mice lived for about 47 days, almost twice (27 days) than those left to fend for themselves. By comparison, mice receiving radiation therapy lived an average of 37 days.

When the drug was combined with radiation therapy, all of the mice went into remission and lived cancer-free for about a year before being killed.

“We expect our study to transform GBM treatment and set a new standard of care for this devastating disease,” said study author Dr Tim Crook, consultant medical oncology at Cromwell Hospital.

Popular singer Tom Parker died in March after an 18-month battle with stage 4 glioblastoma.

He said he was “shocked” by the limited treatment options for GBM after he was diagnosed, and “major improvements” were needed.

Cancer, which affects around 2,000 people in the UK and 12,000 Americans each year, is still treated the same way it was in the early 2000s.

Wanted lead singer Tom Parker has died at the age of 33 after an 18-month battle with the deadly and aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma.

Diagnosed patients usually have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible.

This is followed by daily radiation and chemotherapy drugs for about six weeks, after which the drugs are tapered gradually.

Radiation can be used to destroy more cancer cells and treat those that are not well enough for surgery.

Cancer is one of the most aggressive brain tumors and can double in just seven weeks. By comparison, the fastest growing lung cancers take 14 weeks to double.

Some people with GBM can go into remission where symptoms decrease or disappear for a period of time. But cancer often grows back.

Arginine stimulates the growth of cancer cells.

It’s also used by immune-suppressing cells — suppressor cells that suffocate disease-fighting T cells before they have a chance to intervene.

This is exactly why Dr. Crook and team will stop the growth of glioblastoma tumors that target arginine.

Five mice with GBM received weekly injections of ADI-PEG20, an enzyme that breaks down arginine in the body. They also received weekly doses of radiation therapy for four weeks.

Another group of the same size only received injections, while others only received radiation therapy.

A fourth group of five mice acted as a control group and did not receive any treatment.

As previously thought, lowering arginine levels attenuated the effects of suppressor cells and strengthened the mice’s T cells.

The treatment – ADI-PEG20 in combination with radiation therapy – caused no significant side effects and saved the mice from their tumors. None of the mice in the other groups went into remission, the researchers said.

Findings in the Journal of Clinical Research suggest that deprivation of arginine tumors may be a new anticancer strategy.

The researchers will now explore further studies with ADI-PEG20 on another GBM tumor series.

If these trials are successful, it means that all aggressive cancer patients can be treated with the drug, they said.

The team hopes to try the drug in humans to see if it works.

Dr. Nel Syed, who led the study, said the lab results showed that the drug, when combined with radiation therapy, increased the response to cancer and extended the lifespan of the mice.

“This is an important and exciting discovery,” said Hugh Adams, Head of Stakeholder Relations at Brain Tumor Research, which funded the study.

‘There is an urgent need for new approaches to treat GBM, which is fatal in many cases.

“There has been no improvement in the treatment options for this cancer for two decades.”