Drugs to inhibit blood vessel growth show promise in rat model of deadly brain tumor

Glioblastoma tumor size reduced by 50 to 70 percent

In a landmark study, Medical College of Wisconsin researchers in Milwaukee report that drugs used to inhibit a specific fatty acid in rat brains with glioblastoma-like tumors not only reduced new blood vessel growth and tumor size dramatically, but also prolonged survival. The study is the featured cover story of the August, 2008 Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.

"These rat model tumors were developed from human glioblastoma tumor cells and closely mimic human tumors in growth patterns and response to therapy," says lead researcher David Harder, Ph.D., Kohler Co. Professor in Cardiovascular Research. "The concept of targeting blood vessels that feed tumors as an approach to limit tumor growth is not a novel idea," he says. "However, blocking the specific fatty acid described in this study is novel, and holds great promise for use in humans."

Malignant gliomas are very aggressive tumors of the central nervous system, resistant to chemotherapy and radiation, and account for about half of the 350,000 brain tumors currently diagnosed in the U.S.

Dr. Harder is also professor of physiology, associate dean for research and director of the Medical College's Cardiovascular Research Center. He believes that further studies, demonstrating that such drugs work in humans may reveal that higher concentrations or infusions over longer periods of time may be more effective than the results reported in this study.

"If survival time could be extended, with a combination of surgical therapy and infusion with similar drugs, this could be a significant treatment option," he says.