Charting Brain Cancer Dangers | www.dailyrx.com

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The lowered cost of genetic analysis, increasing use of online databases sharing research, and more powerful computing techniques have resulted in the ability to find complex genetic patterns unimaginable only a decade ago.

Researchers compared samples from patients with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, against a series of genetic sequences to measure risk profile.

Their conclusions showed which genetic sequences could be correlated with higher and lower risk tumors, allowing doctors to individualize treatment for each tumor.

Ask your oncologist about genetic sequencing.

A team from the University of Illinois compared profiles from 282 brain cancer patients against 173 known genes in order to analyze possible links between the two sets of data.?

Their findings led to three separate categories of genetic profiles for brain cancer, meaning that in the future, doctors may have a direct insight into a given patient's brain cancer profile.

Generally, cancers are evaluated with a single marker, such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer.This research may represent a shift into mapping networks of genes for greater accuracy in diagnosis.

The research in the study showed several novel patterns, such as that some genes may be protective for men, but may signal a more aggressive brain cancer in women.

Nicola Serao, a Ph.D. candidate and lead author for the study, said, "This is one of the aspects of our research that makes it unique. We were able to look at several genes at the same time and relate our findings to this cancer."

Sandra Rodriguez Zas, Ph.D., professor at the University of Illinois and coauthor, said, "Because of the innovative approach we used, we believe we can more confidently predict whether a patient will have a shorter or longer survival rate and select the most adequate therapies," she said.

Three hundred and twenty genetic profiles were created, including not only characteristics of the tumor's growth and aggression but age, gender and race of the patient.

These were compared to two groups of genes associated with glioblastoma and glioma tumors, 174 genes in total, exploring every possible relationship between the two groups in statistical analysis.

The findings were published in BMC Medical Genomics.

The authors of the study declared no competing interests.

Brain Tumors

Each year in the United States, over 25,000 people will be newly diagnosed with some form of primary malignant brain tumor, and over 90,000 people are currently living with the disease and undergoing treatment. Approximately 13,000 of these patients will die from the disease, representing 2% of all cancer deaths.

Brain tumors encompass a wide variety of types of cancer, some more aggressive than others. They include:

• Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) ? A deadly tumor forming in the white matter of the brain. Makes up 52% of all cerebral tumors and most common in white and Asian men over age 50. It is very difficult to treat and average survival after diagnosis is 14 months.
• Astrocytoma ? a tumor that forms from the glial cells in the brain (support cells for neurons). These can be benign or malignant (GBM is a form of astrocytoma) and appear in young children as well.
• Oligodendroglioma ? arise from the oligodendrocytes (insulating cells for axoms). They appear mostly in adults around age 35 and represent about 10% of all primary brain tumors and tend to recur after treatment.
• Ependymoma ? arises from tissues in the brain that surround the drainage system of the brain. They represent about 5% of adult brain tumors, and 10% of pediatric brain tumors, peaking at age 35 and earlier at age 5. Often they end up causing hydrocephalus, or ?water on the brain."

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Brain tumors are caused by a change in genetics, much like any other cancer that causes cells to grow out of control. Some brain tumors are associated with specific chromosomal changes, but in most cases, the cause of a brain tumor is unknown, and due to some combination of genetic instability and environmental damage.

Symptoms of a brain tumor depend mainly on the size of the tumor and where it is located in the brain. Because the brain is housed in the skull, a growing tumor will cause something called mass effect, where the enlarging tumor is taking up too much space and cause increased pressure in the brain. This can cause terrible headaches, nausea, vomiting, and changes in consciousness among other specific signs. In other cases, the growing tumor may encroach upon a part of the brain that has a specific function, and cause that function to cease. Depending on what part of the brain the tumor is in, language, motor coordination, vision, balance, and paralysis can occur. In both cases, a brain tumor can present immediately or after several years of growing.

Diagnosis of a brain tumor will ultimately be made by CT scan and MRI. Treatment of brain tumors may involve surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Additionally, MRI-guided laser ablation is frequently used, a technique that involves placing a laser directly into the tumor, and then guiding the laser to destroy the tumor with heat while leaving the surrounding brain tissue undisturbed. Each modality presents its own risks and benefits. Surgery is sometimes not possible because of risk to damage of vital brain structures necessary for life.

Prognosis for a brain tumor is entirely dependent on the type of tumor and its location. Some tumors grow very fast and are inoperable due to the cell type and location, and these patients have a poor prognosis. Other brain tumors can be lived with for years, or quickly and easily treated with surgery.

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Source: http://www.dailyrx.com/news-article/glioblastoma-and-risk-evaluation-genetic-sequencing-17895.html

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