Promising Early Results for Rare Childhood Brain Cancer Drug

This is an excerpt from an article originally published by attorneyatlaw.com on April 24, 2009:

"It’s still early in the process, but researchers say a new drug being developed appears to dramatically slow the growth of a rare and deadly form of childhood brain cancer.

The drug, called 3-BrOP, is being developed by scientists at the Children’s Cancer Hospital at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In testing using laboratory mice, the drug was found to reduce the growth of the cancer, neuroblastoma, by as much as 75 percent.

In the study, human neuroblastoma cells were transplanted into mice and injected with 3-BrOP, a glycolysis inhibitor that starves cancer cells of energy by stopping the flow of glucose, which is the main energy source for the cells, researchers said.

'We found that neuroblastoma cells, unlike healthy cells, are highly dependent on glycolysis for energy instead of more efficient means of energy production,” the research team said in a statement. “Glycolysis is a process that breaks down sugar for energy, so by blocking that process with 3-BrOP, we are able to keep the tumors from producing energy, and this disrupts their ability to grow.'"

For the full article go to Promising Early Results for Rare Childhood Brain Cancer Drug.