Brain tumours 'produce own blood vessels'RSS Feed

Aggressive brain tumours may be hard to treat due to their ability to produce their own blood vessels, according to new research.

Glioblastomas, one of the most aggressive forms of the brain injury, can feed on blood vessels and so survive without depending on those of their host, say researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and the Italian National Institute of Health in Rome.

Two studies, both published in journal Nature, said that the these blood vessels could be the reason that treating the condition by choking off blood vessels surrounding tumours has not worked as effectively as hoped.

The first study, in New York, found that many of the blood cells surrounding tumours had genetic markers seen in cancer cells, indicating they did not come from the host but from the tumour.

Researchers injected a form of tumour able to transform into cells with different functionalities into the brains of mice and found that blood vessels developed which were clearly of human origin.

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Posted by Paul Breen
 

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