Existing drug may help to treat aggressive brain cancer

Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer that progresses very rapidly and often becomes treatment resistant. The commonest chemotherapy drug used to treat glioblastoma, temozolomide, tends not to be as effective as one might hope. But could a common altitude sickness drug enhance its success?

According to Medical News Today, Temozolomide (TMZ) works by modifying DNA, so that certain proteins that allow the tumors to grow and expand do not express.

But, some tumor cells are able to "resist" TMZ's action.

This means that the drug's effectiveness is often limited, which affects patient survival rates.

But a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Chicago in Illinois has made an intriguing discovery.

Acetazolamide (brand name Diamox) — a drug commonly used to treat altitude sickness and other health problems, such as glaucoma and even seizures — may counteract the resistance put up by glioblastoma cells, thus enhancing TMZ's effect.

Study director Dr. Bahktiar Yamini explains that, if the new findings hold strong, acetazolamide would be a very convenient therapeutic aid, since it is "cheap to make, easy to take, and has limited side effects."

The researchers' results have now been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter