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- Violets Bring Flower Power Hope For Glioblastoma Patients
Violets Bring Flower Power Hope For Glioblastoma Patients
For those diagnosed with a glioblastoma, the path ahead will undoubtedly be a challenging one. Because it is ultimately incurable, the challenge is about extending life and the treatment can be gruelling, consisting of methods such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery.
The last of these can be essential in extending life as a key feature of a glioblastoma is how aggressive it is, spreading quickly through the brain and spinal cord if left unchecked.
However, this needs following up with further treatment such as radiotherapy - which can be deployed in various ways like a gamma knife or Intensity-modulated radiotherapy - and chemotherapy.
Because these treatments can do much to extend life, any enhancement to them can be very significant, which is why there is plenty of research going on all the time into ways of making them more effective.
This possibility has been revealed in research from the United States, published in the Swiss journal Biomedicines. A study at the non-profit Brain Chemistry Labs at Jackson Hole in Wyoming found that a compound found in violets can greatly increase the effectiveness of one chemotherapy drug, meaning less of it is needed to kill the cancer.
The drug in question is Temozolomide, which is only effective in half of glioblastoma patients. Even among those where it is, the cancer cells develop resistance quite soon, which means the drug becomes ineffective before long.
However, the humble violet has added a new weapon to the arsenal in the form of cyclotides. These are a form of circular peptides, described by research team member Dr Samatha Gerlach as “like floppy Frisbees” in appearance.
More significant than their shape, however, is what tests have shown they can do. Dr Gerlach stated: “They have been found active in the test tube against certain types of human cancer cells.”
This happens because the crosslinks that help maintain cyclotides' ‘frisbee’ shape can also pierce cancer cell membrane walls. Moreover, cyclotides have several curative properties. These protect violets against a range of threats from fungi to viruses, but one cyclotide - Kalata B1 - has now been shown to have further potential use.
Indeed, the Temozolomide turned out to be 15-16 times more effective when introduced in combination with Kalata B1.
Kalata is not a substance that has only just been discovered; it has long been used as an herbal tea in African medicine to ease the pain of childbirth. However, there was a problem: the actual amount of cyclotides produced by violets is very small, which meant that it would be impossible to find enough violets to make this an effective booster for treatment.
Thankfully, the Jackson’s Hole team were aided by California-based CSBio, which has managed to synthesise the substance so it can now be produced in larger quantities. Tests at California State University confirmed this had been done effectively.
Having raised the prospect of a potentially more effective treatment, the Brain Chemistry Labs issued a note of caution, with Dr Gerlach highlighting the fact that clinical trials are a “long way” off, with the next stage for now being tests on mice in Vienna.
That may mean that for most current Glioblastoma patients, any enhanced chemotherapy treatment using the combination of Kalata B1 and Temozolomide may arrive too late, although, with some patients surviving for as long as five years, that may not be true in every case.
This means the scans, which are combined with the therapy in real-time, can help guide the treatment, provide early warnings of tumour growth and enable clinical decisions to be made on the basis of data provided daily during treatment.
Lead author Dr Kaylie Cullison, who presented the findings to a meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology said: “Our study shows that these daily scans can serve as an early warning sign for potential tumour growth.”
The last of these can be essential in extending life as a key feature of a glioblastoma is how aggressive it is, spreading quickly through the brain and spinal cord if left unchecked.
However, this needs following up with further treatment such as radiotherapy - which can be deployed in various ways like a gamma knife or Intensity-modulated radiotherapy - and chemotherapy.
Because these treatments can do much to extend life, any enhancement to them can be very significant, which is why there is plenty of research going on all the time into ways of making them more effective.
A Flower Of Hope?
However, one might have considered it unlikely that ‘flower power’ could offer a major boost - until now.This possibility has been revealed in research from the United States, published in the Swiss journal Biomedicines. A study at the non-profit Brain Chemistry Labs at Jackson Hole in Wyoming found that a compound found in violets can greatly increase the effectiveness of one chemotherapy drug, meaning less of it is needed to kill the cancer.
The drug in question is Temozolomide, which is only effective in half of glioblastoma patients. Even among those where it is, the cancer cells develop resistance quite soon, which means the drug becomes ineffective before long.
However, the humble violet has added a new weapon to the arsenal in the form of cyclotides. These are a form of circular peptides, described by research team member Dr Samatha Gerlach as “like floppy Frisbees” in appearance.
More significant than their shape, however, is what tests have shown they can do. Dr Gerlach stated: “They have been found active in the test tube against certain types of human cancer cells.”
This happens because the crosslinks that help maintain cyclotides' ‘frisbee’ shape can also pierce cancer cell membrane walls. Moreover, cyclotides have several curative properties. These protect violets against a range of threats from fungi to viruses, but one cyclotide - Kalata B1 - has now been shown to have further potential use.
Kalata The Killer Of Cancer?
Temozolomide becomes far more powerful when applied in combination with Kalata B1, killing cancer cells much more effectively, as the effect of the Kalata B1 on the cells was to make them much more vulnerable to the effects of the drug, based on a measurement known as cytotoxicity (how toxic to the cells a chemo drug is).Indeed, the Temozolomide turned out to be 15-16 times more effective when introduced in combination with Kalata B1.
Kalata is not a substance that has only just been discovered; it has long been used as an herbal tea in African medicine to ease the pain of childbirth. However, there was a problem: the actual amount of cyclotides produced by violets is very small, which meant that it would be impossible to find enough violets to make this an effective booster for treatment.
Thankfully, the Jackson’s Hole team were aided by California-based CSBio, which has managed to synthesise the substance so it can now be produced in larger quantities. Tests at California State University confirmed this had been done effectively.
Having raised the prospect of a potentially more effective treatment, the Brain Chemistry Labs issued a note of caution, with Dr Gerlach highlighting the fact that clinical trials are a “long way” off, with the next stage for now being tests on mice in Vienna.
That may mean that for most current Glioblastoma patients, any enhanced chemotherapy treatment using the combination of Kalata B1 and Temozolomide may arrive too late, although, with some patients surviving for as long as five years, that may not be true in every case.
Another Glioblastoma Research Boost
In addition, there are other developments taking place that may help improve glioblastoma treatment. For example, a study by researchers at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Centre, which is part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has demonstrated the effectiveness of using MRI scans to monitor the effects of radiation therapy.This means the scans, which are combined with the therapy in real-time, can help guide the treatment, provide early warnings of tumour growth and enable clinical decisions to be made on the basis of data provided daily during treatment.
Lead author Dr Kaylie Cullison, who presented the findings to a meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology said: “Our study shows that these daily scans can serve as an early warning sign for potential tumour growth.”
