New Brain Tumor Drug

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- For the last 40 years, doctors relied on sulfasalazine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including Crohn's disease. However, a new study shows this drug may treat primary brain tumors, known as gliomas.

Gliomas kill nearly 20,000 Americans a year and are among one of the most aggressive forms of cancer with no effective treatment existing.

Harald Sontheimer, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology and director of the Civitan International Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led researchers in the study. They discovered gliomas are dependant upon only one mechanism to protect their cells, whereas healthy cells rely on several different mechanisms. They determined that the mechanism can be inactivated by sulfasalazine.

"This is a novel mechanism for trying to attack brain tumor cells," says Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D., stem cell and regeneration program director at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif. "Implementing their hypothesis wouldn't require designing a whole new line of drugs."

Brain tumors grow fast, killing off healthy neurons as they expand and using more energy than healthy cells. The amino acid cystine produces glutathione (GSH) protects cancer and healthy cells from the toxic byproducts of metabolism. In order to protect a tumor, the cystine level must be high. The cells absorb the cystine and release the neurotransmitter glutamate, which kills neurons.

In the past, scientists tried to stop the production of GHS to prevent brain cancer. However, the new approach of using sulfasalazine reduces tumor size by limiting the cancer cell's capability to produce glutathione, making the tumor more prone to attacks from the body's natural defenses.

Dr. Sontheimer says, "With further successful testing, this should allow a rapid translation into clinical studies. Most exciting is the fact that a clinically approved drug that can be delivered orally is already available." He adds the drug is already proven to reduce tumor size.

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SOURCE: The Journal of Neuroscience, 2005;25:7101-7110