Gliomas are a group of brain tumors where the most common type is also the most aggressive one.
Chemotherapy and radiation have little effect on malignant gliomas, and patients survive only about a year after being diagnosed. But research at Lund University in Sweden provides hope that it may be possible in the future to develop stem cells from the brain into a new way to treat gliomas.
Neural stem cells have been shown to have the ability to recognize signals from tumor cells in the brain and migrate there. If stem cells are injected into a part of the brain in laboratory animals with a glioma in another part of their brain, the stem cells migrate over to the tumor area.
This has spawned the idea of having stem cells transport drugs or immune stimulants to the tumor. This was the principle the Lund scientists wanted to test. But as it turned out, no extra assistance was needed: the stem cells themselves had the ability to combat the tumor.
“We were truly amazed when we saw this effect! To be sure about the phenomenon, we ran several experiments with other stem cells, and it was confirmed that certain neural stem cells actually have an anti-tumor effect,” says Karin Staflin. She is describing the findings in her dissertation, which she will soon defend.