New child brain cancer drug promising

SAN DIEGO, April 24 (UPI) -- In preclinical studies, researchers in Texas found a novel cancer drug reduces growth of neuroblastoma -- a rare childhood brain cancer -- by 75 percent.

Dr. Alejandro Levy, a fellow at the Children's Cancer Hospital at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said that the drug, 3-BrOP, developed at the center, reduces tumor growth by more than 75 percent as a single agent.

The study, conducted with human neuroblastoma cells transplanted into mice, showed how 3-BrOP, a glycolysis inhibitor, starved the cancer cells to death by shutting down their main energy source, glucose.

"We found that neuroblastoma cells, unlike healthy cells, are highly dependent on glycolysis for energy instead of more efficient means of energy production," Levy said in a statement. "Glycolysis is a process that breaks down sugar for energy, so by blocking that process with 3-BrOP, we are able to keep the tumors from producing energy, and this disrupts their ability to grow."

The findings were presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in San Diego.