DRUGS already used for AIDS and HIV may also work against some of the most common forms of brain tumors. This is the conclusion of a study published in the Cancer Resarche Journal: if the results are confirmed, the anti-HIV antiretroviral drugs can also be used for patients with a diagnosis of meningiomas and acoustic neuromas, against whom today we have few options for treatment.
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Meningiomi e neurinomi
Meningioma is the most common form of intracranial cancer. This neoplasm, which originates from the cells of the meninges (the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord) is a benign disease, but in some cases it can evolve over time into a more aggressive form. Neurinoma is also a low-grade brain tumor that originates from the cells that surround and protect the cranial nerves: the schwann cells (schwannoma in fact is its second name). The most common neuroma is that of the acoustic nerve, the eighth cranial nerve. Both meningiomas and neuromas are usually diagnosed in adults, but also in children and adolescents with type 2 neurofibromatosis (NF2), a rare inherited disease (affects one in 60,000 people) that predisposes to the formation of these neoplasms.
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Ancestral viruses and genetic mutations
In this study, researchers at Plymouth University’s Brain Tumor Center demonstrated that particularly high levels of the HERV-K proteins are present in meningioma and neuroma cells, and that these proteins stimulate the growth of brain tumors. The HERV-K, Human Endogenous retrovirus K, already linked in the past to other forms of cancer, are synthesized starting from sections of DNA of viral derivation, that is, fractions of the genome originating from ancient infections that have affected our primate ancestors and which are become stable elements of our genetic heritage. This led the researchers to discover that protease inhibitor drugs – ritonavir, atazanavir and lopinavir – that target these proteins reduce the multiplication of low-grade neuroma and meningioma cells. These antiretrovirals have already been approved for the treatment of HIV / AIDS and are also used in Italy.
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“Our results – says Oliver Hanemann, director of the Center for Research on Brain Tumors at Plymouth University and co-author of the publication – lead us to conclude that HERV-K proteins are critical regulators of growth in merlin-deficient tumors.” Merlin is a tumor suppressor gene located on chromosome 22 that codes for schwannomin and is involved in the development of meningioma, acoustic neuroma, ependymoma (a type of glioma) and also in type 2 neurofibromatosis. errors on the DNA when they occur, limiting the development of tumors (it is indeed a tumor suppressor), but if it is mutated or absent, the risk of cancer increases. “These results – said Hugh Adams of Brain Tumor Research – are extremely significant because reusing drugs is a valuable way to accelerate the experimentation of new approaches in clinical trials that, if successful, could reach patients quickly. Which – he concluded – is particularly important for those with brain tumors as many of these patients do not have the luxury of time “.
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