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Sunday, 23 February 2014

A Two-Drug Tandem & Its Relation To Brain Tumors

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By Robbie Sutter


Brain tumors are going to be given a great amount of focus as far as the usage of certain drugs is concerned. Some of these drugs may be more useful than others but the truth of the matter is that they can come from many different sources. While it's clear that there are those which are entirely unique, there are just as many - if not more - that have been put to use in order to treat entirely different conditions in the past. Is it possible, then, that a two-drug combination can help matters in this particular field?

YottaFire put forth an article that went into detail about a combination of drugs that could come into play in order to stop the progression of brain tumors. A group of mice was focused on, seeing as how each of the test subjects had the condition in question. Following the administration of the drug tandem, it was found that their survival rates had become that much better. To me, this is just one of the reasons as to why this story should be focused on by many organizations, Voices against Brain Cancer included.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute put together the study and it was determined that a combination of two drugs working together could play positively into the actions of glioblastoma. With this particular tandem, it would be able to focus on two cell signaling pathways. A previous study was done but it was deemed unsuccessful because of how only one pathway was focused on. While this improvement is worthy of note, what is more worthy has got to be a certain abnormality that is typical amongst one-third of glioblastoma patients.

It seems as though these patients lack a particular gene that has been given the name of PTEN. The gene in question works as a tumor suppressant, which is vital when considering what can happen without it. If PTEN is not present, the body undergoes a chain reaction that includes overactive molecular growth. What his means is that cells can grow to tremendous rates, which could also play into how they are able to reach the brain. The gene cannot be replaced through these drugs but this level of progression can be halted.

The human body is one that can go about a number of actions, many of which we are not entirely certain of. What exactly makes said actions come about, one has to wonder? It's clear that not all of them are going to make sense and I am sure that there are many who do not understand the importance behind the PTEN gene. When considering how integral PTEN is in terms of the growth of brain tumors, the focus brought on certain drugs coming together means that much more.




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