Mumbai, 11 July, 2016: In India, cancer has some alarming statistics. More than around 40, 000 Indians are diagnosed with cancer of which a whopping 20 percent are children. The most common cancers detected are Lung and oral in men and cervical and breast cancer most commonly effect women. What is alarming though is that two thirds of cancer deaths are preventable with a few alterations in ones’ lifestyle. Of all the cancer types, the brain tumor, has always been a serious research aspect for the scientist in this field. The complexity of the tumor, makes it difficult to treat. Roughly 2500 to 3000 kids every year are diagnosed with brain tumour in India which sadly spreads through the cerebrospinal fluid to the areas of brain and Spinal Cord. We also have reports suggesting electromagnetic radiations from mobile towers etc being touted as a major cancer causing agent with regards to brain tumour cases . Glioma is said to be the most common form of primary malignant brain tumour in adults, with approximately four cases per 100,000 people each year. Gliomas remain one of the hardest to treat cancers.
Scientific experts in Newcastle University have worked upon a pioneering research on the topic of brain tumour where Gliomas require fatty acids to fuel growth and not sugar for energy production as it was hitherto generally believed to be so. This throws light on some fundamental aspects of the biology of cancer cells of the brain and states the fundamental principle that it is the fatty acids which are broken in order to produce energy and sustain growth. Interestingly a drug called Etomoxir is used to slow down the metabolism rate of fatty acids and this shows that it can be included in the treatment of Glioma patients.
This path breaking therapeutic intervention if being implemented after some time in the near future can yield unbelievable life- saving results for Glioma patients which has been discovered by the medical experts of Newcastle university backed up by solid laboratorial research involving cells from human beings being mutated as cancerous cells and thereby being injected into donor mice for obtaining interesting output in this research which has given us a scientific breakthrough. The median life span increases by 17 percent when this injected drug delays the process of cancer cell formation in the brain.
India has documented several cases of brain cancer which have been both a serious killer as well as an early battle won. Only six percent of brain tumour can be treated successfully and the rest are still being worked out with multiple alternatives. Increased use of advance technology in diagnosis process and neurosurgery, we are still battling with this malaise which in some good number of cases leads to death due to its irreversible nature. Cancer research has come a long way in terms of its scientific efforts in promoting world class treatment and care to patients suffering from various stages of cancer.