A team of scientists from Canada said brain cancer may be caused by the healing process that follows a stroke or other brain injury. To do so, they analyzed tumor cells from 26 patients with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer.
It turned out that some cells are in a state of “reaction to trauma” typical of wound healing. This process begins after a stroke, injury, infection, or other traumatic impact on the brain.
Scientists believe that mutations can disrupt the process that creates new cells to replace those that have been lost and spur tumor growth.
“Our data show that the right mutational changes in certain brain cells can be disrupted by trauma and lead to a tumor. Glioblastoma can be thought of as a wound that will never heal. We are pleased that our discovery speaks to how cancer arises and grows and opens up entirely new avenues of treatment by emphasizing the response of trauma and inflammation,” writes Nature Cancer author and neurosurgeon Peter Dirks of Children’s Hospital in Toronto.
The findings could lead to new treatments for glioblastoma patients, who currently have limited treatment options and an average life expectancy of 15 months after diagnosis.
According to Dr. Dirks, some glioblastomas begin to form when the normal tissue healing process — which must generate new cells to replace those lost to injury — is disrupted by mutations. This can happen many years before the patient develops symptoms of cancer.
Once the mutated cell begins to participate in wound healing, it does not stop multiplying, but rather stimulates tumor growth.
“The goal is to identify a drug that will kill glioblastoma stem cells. But first we need to understand the molecular nature of these cells to be able to target them more effectively,” said co-author of the paper and molecular geneticist Gary Bader of the University of Toronto.
The scientists analyzed a total of nearly 70,000 cells using single-cell RNA sequencing, a method that determines which genes are included in individual cells.
Earlier, a doctor listed the first signs of brain cancer. The main signs of brain cancer are headache, rapid fatigue and nausea.