Tumor paint a method to improve brain cancer surgery

It has been estimated that brain tumors are the second most common cancers in children and are 25% of all tumors in adults. They are the most lethal cancers, grow rapidly and invade the surroundinghealthy brain tissue. While surgical procedures are the main action to save patients’ lives, medical technology limitations to provide a definitive view and exact location of the tumor, make these procedures, a big challenge for neurosurgeons. In an attempt to remove the entire tumor, the surgeon may take out some of the normal brain tissue which can cause catastrophic consequences or if missingsome cancer cells, the tumor may grow back after the operation. Scientists have developed a technique called tumor paint that stains cancer cells and provides a clear distinction between tumor tissue and normal brain tissue. It is provided from a peptide called chlorotoxin (CLTX), derived from the venom of the deathstalker scorpion which binds preferentially to tumor cells. The synthetic tumor paint is aconjugated of chlorotoxin to indocyanine green and called Tumor Paint BLZ-100, after intravenous injection, cross the blood-brain barrier and attaches only to tumor cells. Tumor paint causes the tumorcells glow when stimulated by a laser in the near-infrared light, enables neurosurgeons to remove all tumor without damage to healthy brain tissues. The preliminary experiments have been shown thatBLZ-100 (now in phase 1 clinical trials) can illuminate brain, prostate, breast, and other solid tumor cancers. Tumor paint could improve the results of many cancer surgeries by helping surgeons toremove whole tumors and reduce long life neurological deficits

کلیدواژه ها:

Cancer Diagnosis ، Solid Tumors ، Cancer Treatment and Management ، Targeted Cancer Therapy ، Drugs and Cancer