Brain and spinal cord tumours

The blood-brain barrier is a specialized system of cells lining blood vessels in the brain. The blood-brain barrier prevents most substances in the blood from passing into the brain and helps maintain a constant environment so the nerve cells in the brain can work properly.

Although the blood-brain barrier is important for protecting the brain, it also means that substances that we want to use to treat brain tumours can’t easily get into the brain. Researchers are looking for ways to get immunotherapy drugs and other treatments through the blood-brain barrier so they can be more effective against cancer cells in the brain.

A liquid biopsy is a special kind of biopsy that collects a sample of cancer cells, or parts of cancer cells (for example, pieces of DNA), from the blood, urine (pee) or other bodily fluid. Researchers are looking for ways to use liquid biopsies with brain tumours so that the skull doesn’t need to be opened to get a sample of the cancer.

Some researchers are studying ways to use blood to find cancer cells. Other researchers are looking for circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, which is called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Using liquid biopsies would mean a brain or spinal tumour could be diagnosed without using more invasive methods.For brain tumours, a biopsy is currently done by creating a hole in the skull to get to the tumour in the brain.During a biopsy, the doctor removes tissues or cells from the body so a pathologist canc test them in a lab. A report from a pathologist will show whether or not cancer cells are found in the sample.

Vaccines used to treat cancer are different from vaccines that are used to prevent diseases. Cancer vaccines are a type of immunotherapy, which helps the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells in the body. Cancer vaccines are also called therapeutic vaccines.

Researchers are looking at developing the following types of vaccine to treat gliomas, a type of brain tumour.

Peptide-based vaccines are made up of small pieces of amino acids (peptides), which make up proteins in the body. These peptides are taken from a cancer cell, and when the vaccine is injected into the body, the immune system recognizes the peptides.

Whole-cell vaccines use cancer cells that have been killed or weakened and can no longer grow or divide.

Dendritic-cell vaccines are made up of dendritic cells, which are part of the immune system. Their main role is to signal to other immune system cells to act.

mRNA vaccines use mRNA, a type of ribonucleic acid that is needed to make proteins. These vaccines focus on proteins that are found on cancer cells. They tell the immune system to create antibodies against the cancer cells.

. In CAR-T cell therapy, your healthcare team will take T-cells from your body and send them to a lab, where technicians will change them so they can recognize cancer cells. Your team will then return the changed cells to your body, where they help your immune system find and attack the cancer cells.

Researchers are studying ways that CAR-T cell therapy as a treatment for gliomas and meningiomas, which are the most common type of brain tumour found in adults.

Nanoparticles are extremely tiny particles. Drugs can be attached to these particles, which can carry them directly to the cancer cells in the body.

The advantage of nanoparticle drug delivery is that the nanoparticles can move through the blood-brain barrier and get the drugs into brain cancer cells. Researchers are looking at using different types of nanoparticles as a treatment for gliomas.

Radioligand therapy combines radioactive particles with small molecules that are attracted to cancer cells. The particles can pass through the blood-brain barrier. Once the molecules are in the cancer cells, the radioactive particles are released into the cells to kill them.

Researchers are studying rtherapy for its potential role in treating gliomas and meningiomas.

Enzymes are proteins that speed up certain chemical reactions in the body. One of those enzymes, called Poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) helps repair damage to DNA. PARP inhibitors are drugs that block this enzyme. As a result, cancer cells can’t repair their DNA, which causes them to die.

PARP inhibitors may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier, so they are a potential treatment for brain tumours. Early research has shown that PARP inhibitors might work best if combined with the chemotherapy drug temozolomide, or with radiation therapy. PARP inhibitors are most effective against a type of brain tumour that carries specific genetic changes, called IDH-mutant gliomas.