A single protein can reverse the developmental clock on adult brain cells called astrocytes, morphing them into stem-like cells that produce neurons and other cell types, UT Southwestern researchers report in a new study. The findings might someday lead to a way to regenerate brain tissue after disease or injury.

It may be possible to identify the presence of an aggressive brain tumor in children by studying their cerebrospinal fluid, according to new research.

Using data from over 100,000 malignant and non-malignant cells from 15 human brain metastases, researchers have revealed two functional archetypes of metastatic cells across 7 different types of brain tumors, each containing both immune and non-immune cell types. Their findings provide a potential roadmap for metastatic tumor formation that could be used to design therapies to improve the treatment of metastasized patients.

High doses of a widely-used drug used in the hormonal treatment of conditions such as excessive hair growth, early puberty, prostate cancer, are linked to an increased risk of meningioma — the most common type of benign brain tumor, finds a new study of over 8-million patients.

Scientists have developed a novel cancer therapy that uses an MRI scanner to guide a magnetic seed through the brain to heat and destroy tumors.

Researchers have demonstrated that a novel combination of two drugs that act as targeted inhibitors, delivered in a nanoparticle formulation, extend the survival of mice with medulloblastoma. The research team believes this laboratory success could be translated into a less toxic treatment for medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor.

New research suggests that chemotherapy could better target brain tumors in mouse models when it was administered at night instead of during the day. That’s because the blood-brain barrier was more likely to allow the chemotherapy to pass through it at night. The findings highlight the importance of this area of research in humans, and one day, they could help to improve outcomes in patients with brain tumors.

Inhaled CBD shrinks the size of the highly aggressive, lethal brain tumor glioblastoma in an animal model by reducing the essential support of its microenvironment, researchers report.

Drugs developed to treat AIDS and HIV could offer hope to patients diagnosed with the most common form of primary brain tumor. The breakthrough is significant because, if further research is conclusive, the anti-retroviral drugs could be prescribed for patients diagnosed with meningioma and acoustic neuroma brain tumors (also known as schwannoma).

Scientists have identified a rare population of potentially toxic senescent cells in human brains that can serve as a target for a new Alzheimer’s disease treatment.

Scientists have discovered a new biomarker to identify which patients with brain tumors called glioblastomas — the most common and malignant of primary brain tumors — might benefit from immunotherapy. The treatment could extend survival for an estimated 20% to 30% of patients. Currently, patients with glioblastoma do not receive this life-prolonging treatment because it has not been fully understood which of them could benefit.

Doctors and scientists have successfully tested a neoantigen-specific transgenic immune cell therapy for malignant brain tumors for the first time using an experimental model in mice.

A team of researchers has developed a new technique to open the blood-brain barrier temporarily to deliver medication to the brain. Getting medication past the brain’s unique and protective blood vessels, known as the blood-brain barrier, is one of the biggest challenges in treating brain and central nervous system diseases, according to researchers. The technique uses light and nanoparticles to pry open temporarily these barriers — called tight junctions — to allow medication to reach its target.

A team of researchers has developed a noninvasive diagnostic method that may one day replace the biopsy with a simple blood test.

Treatment with arginine, one of the amino-acid building blocks of proteins, enhanced the effectiveness of radiation therapy in cancer patients with brain metastases, in a proof-of-concept, randomized clinical trial.

Copper has been clinically improving the lives of people since about 1500 BCE, when an Egyptian physician first recorded its use as a treatment for inflammation. Some 35 centuries later, researchers have provided solid evidence that the first metal used medicinally may now have a new role — helping save children from a devastating central nervous system cancer known as medulloblastoma.

Researchers have developed a new test to more easily diagnose medulloblastoma, the most common malignant childhood brain tumor. The test — which can distinguish between extremely high-risk medulloblastoma cases that need radiation therapy from those that are lower-risk and do not need radiation — could help pave the way for personalized treatment options for children suffering from the disease. It relies on an antibody-based technique called immunohistochemistry which is widely available in clinical laboratories around the world.

Researchers have used high-density nanofibers that mimic the microenvironment of the brain to capture tumor cells, opening doors to novel therapeutic solutions for aggressive brain cancer.

Scientists have discovered a new link that could bring the scientific and medical community closer to understanding why glioblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor, is deadlier in males than females.

Metformin, a drug commonly prescribed against diabetes, holds promise against a rare type of childhood brain tumor in laboratory studies, an international team of researchers.

A drug commonly used to treat cancer can restore memory and cognitive function in mice that display symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, new research has found. The drug, Axitinib, inhibits growth of new blood vessels in the brain — a feature shared by both cancer tumors and Alzheimer’s disease. This hallmark represents a new target for Alzheimer’s therapies. Mice that underwent the therapy not only exhibited a reduction in blood vessels and other Alzheimer’s markers in their brains, they also performed remarkably well in tests designed to measure learning and memory.

A team led by researchers  has profiled in unprecedented detail thousands of individual cells sampled from patients‘ brain tumors. The findings, along with the methods developed to obtain those findings, represent a significant advance in cancer research, and ultimately may lead to better ways of detecting, monitoring and treating cancers.

Known as pediatric radiation-induced high-grade gliomas (RIGs), this specific type of brain tumor is caused by cranial radiation therapy for other cancers, most often brain cancers. They account for nearly 4% of all childhood brain tumor deaths, but there have not been many studies on RIGs and how to treat them.

Why did you write The Secret Language of Cells? While studying signaling among brain cells, I became aware that all our cells—immune cells, gut cells, microbes, plant cells, etc. —are also constantly sending back and forth messages to each other in the same ways that neurons do. These conversations among cells outside of the brain […]

The Secret Language of Cells describes revolutionary findings about the interaction of the immune system and the brain and provides a new understanding of the relationship between mind and body. The immune system has a huge impact on the brain and mental health. Similarly, the brain strongly influences immune activity throughout the body. These interactions […]