Blood-Brain Breakthrough

This week on Universal Medicine, we return to the ‘control centre’ of the body to discuss a potential breakthrough in chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy: the type of treatment used to kill cancer cells by damaging their ultrastructure. Thus, preventing their reproduction and spread. Traditionally, tumours (abnormal cell growth) is treated by exposing the area to radiation. What is important to consider is that, unsurprisingly, this vital organ is protected by a barrier of cells. Primarily, these prevent the entrance of chemicals and bacterial toxins, however in turn also stop the penetration of medicine into this organ, enhancing the difficulty of neurological treatments with drugs.
This barrier has sparked much research and for the first time, this protective barrier has been temporarily opened and it has been shown that this has boosted the delivery of medication to the brain tumour. For this technique, microbubbles – tiny bubbles of harmless gas – are injected into the blood stream. Upon exposure of the brain to chemo, the kinetic energy of the microbubbles is increased, leading to vibrations which increase the permeability of the blood brain barrier. Thus in turn accommodating for a greater rate of drug transmission to the area.
Following rigorous trials, the treatment technique was then tested on 15 volunteers. These trials added further support to the theory and statistics suggested that up to 5 times the amount of drug reached the brain.
These early trials suggest promising results and in the near future, this technique could support the treatment of not only brain tumours, but also diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Indeed, this is what science is all about: pioneering new research to aid welfare.  
Thank you for reading this week’s blog.  
Written by Gagandeep Sachdeva                                                                                                            
Universal Medicine
Sources:
- https://www.newscientist.com/article/2093829-microbubbles-open-brains-barrier-to-make-chemo-more-effective/ 
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34775604 
- http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chemotherapy/Pages/Definition.aspx 

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