Vital Breakthrough in Brain Cancer Detection

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has joined hands with Nimhans and Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Education to come up with a better cure for brain cancer.

This joint venture aims to provide patients with a new approach to treat the disease. Currently the only way of detecting this disease is through an MRI (MR imaging), and in some cases histopathological investigation is also relied upon. Although these techniques are extensively used, they are not 100% accurate in the prediction of the exact tumor boundary in a person.

Professor Kumar Somasundaram, Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology at IISc has achieved a milestone along with his team members in developing a new technique wherein normal patients can be easily differentiated from the ones suffering from brain cancer. The team has come up with a technique in which a set of markers would secrete a serum in the patient, through this process it can be identified whether the person is suffering from brain cancer or not.

In order to achieve this milestone, the team identified a three-marker panel that consisted of LYAM1, BHE40 and CRP proteins. Apart from this, a study on DNA methylation was also conducted which led to the discovery that a person who has been identified with high risk of brain cancer tends to have more than required 9 genes methylation signature. Due to this reason, the patient experiences a high activation of oncogenic pathway. On the basis of this research, it has been established that when a patient has more than required 9 gene methylation signature, she/ he is suffering from brain cancer and appropriate therapy can then be administered to her/him.

Many experiments are still needed to develop accuracy of tests that help to differentiate normal patients who are otherwise suffering from brain related disorders, from those suffering from brain cancer. All said and done, this breakthrough is a vital one.

News Source: Times of India | Economic Times
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