Scientists find window of opportunity to attack aggressive brain cancer

It comes after Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn (pictured) made an emotional plea to British prime minister Andy Burnham to establish a national brain cancer lead. Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA

Scientists have found a window of opportunity to attack aggressive brain cancer with chemotherapy.

Instead of waiting for a few weeks after surgery to start chemotherapy, early research suggests that the treatment could be most impactful in the minutes and days after an operation to remove a glioblastoma.

The new study shows that the blood-brain barrier — a tightly packed layer of cells which protect the brain from harm but can also limit drug concentrations to the brain — is “disrupted” during two windows during the immediate and early periods after surgery.

Experts said that while the findings are still in their early stages, they could potentially reshape care for glioblastoma patients.

They said the delay of four to six weeks between surgery and the start of chemotherapy and radiotherapy has “largely been regarded as a necessity to ensure complete recovery from surgery”.

But the researchers said that in the future, the findings could help medics when to “exploit” these windows of opportunity to attack the cancerous cells left behind after surgery.

It comes after Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn made an emotional plea to British prime minister Andy Burnham to establish a national brain cancer lead.

The 25-year-old, who was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was 22, described how trials around the world are not being seen in the UK which is “unfair and unjust”.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Goodburn was in tears as he said: “Please invest and make the difference. I’m on my knees begging for not just my own life but those who are affected and the families all around the country.

“This has to change, it has been going on for too long and the suffering is unbearable.”

Study findings

The authors of the study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said the effects of glioblastoma removal surgery on the blood-brain barrier, and the impacts of chemotherapy, “have not been systematically studied” in the past.

Researchers from the University of Manchester performed mice studies to mimic the clinical procedure of removing a tumour and used a formulation which does not typically enter the brain unless there is disruption to the blood-brain barrier.

The research team found that the surgery disrupts the blood brain barrier “revealing the opportunity for early treatment unitisation within specific temporal windows”. The windows are 15 minutes and 48 to 72 hours post surgery.

They said that by “exploiting” these time frames, they “effectively suppressed tumour recurrence”.

Dr Thomas Kisby, co-lead on the study, said: “For the first time, we’ve shown that glioblastoma surgery briefly exposes a vulnerability we can exploit.

If treatment is timed during specific windows we identified, it is able to halt the disease significantly before it regrows.

“We suggest that the hours and days immediately after surgery may hold the key to stopping glioblastoma from returning.

“It also raises the possibility that other established medicines could be redeployed in smarter, more strategic ways.” 

Co-lead Professor Kostas Kostarelos added: “This research has the potential to open a new frontier in post-operative cancer care.

“After surgery, brain tumours often grow back from the tissue surrounding the area where the tumour was removed. We propose using the latest targeted treatments, including nanoparticle-based medicines, immunotherapy, and gene therapies, to treat this high-risk area and improve patients’ chances of long-term survival.” 

Dr Gerben Borst, honorary consultant oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, said: “One of the greatest challenges in treating glioblastoma is eliminating the microscopic cancer cells that remain after surgery.

“These findings suggest that a better understanding of the body’s natural response to surgery could help us deliver anti-cancer drugs more effectively, rather than relying solely on the development of entirely new and costly medicines.

“While this research is still at an early stage, it provides important insights into how drug delivery to the brain could be improved."