A new technique has been tested that could improve how medical professionals can treat brain cancer patients as well as those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.

The key? A focused MRI technique that will allow drugs and other treatments to enter the brain.

In a trial involving four women whose breast cancer had spread to the brain, it was shown that a technique called "magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound" (MRgFUS) could deliver an antibody drug called "trastuzumab," or Herceptin, to the brain tissues. The MRgFus method allowed the substance to cross what is called the "blood-brain barrier" (BBB), a cellular structure that is designed to prevent substances in the bloodstream from reaching the brain.

The initial results of the technique showed the patients' brain tumors begin to shrink.

Ordinarily, the BBB protects the brain from exposure to toxins or microbes that could be present in a person’s bloodstream, allowing only necessary substances like water and oxygen are allowed by the barrier to reach the brain.

However, researchers have struggled with coming up with temporary methods to overcome the BBB so that they can deliver drug therapy for a number of diseases, including neurodegenerative ones like Alzheimer's Disease.

The leader of the study — Dr. Nir Lipsman of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto — said that previous methods to overcome the BBB were successful in temporarily opening it to treat a different type of brain cancer as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but neither attempt aimed to deliver drugs directly to the brain. His team is the first to attempt this treatment.

Nisman explained that though his team did observe some reduction in the size of patients’ tumors, it remained too early to fully judge the results. He posted on Twitter that it would require more follow-ups in the long term after the procedure.

MRgFUS is regarded by the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCIB), a branch of the National Institute of Health, as a non-invasive treatment for patients that are already being used for the treatment for the removal of uterine fibroids in women.

According to Dr. Lipsman, the treatment has breakthrough potential for treating a variety of brain diseases in the future.

"This is non-invasive, safe, reversible, precise and effective delivery of large-molecule therapy to the brain with MR-guided FUS. The implications are for any brain disease where the BBB is an obstacle, from cancer to Alzheimer's to Parkinson's,” said Lipsman.

RELATED STORIES