Increased WBC May Be Not Good In Brain Cancer

White blood cells are a type of immune cells among which a particular type may cause aggressive glioblastomas - brain cancer tissues to die but, that's not good news, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, published in the journal Nature Communications.

Apart from pieces of evidence established on the role of poor blood supply that may cause this cell death - necrosis, the study team further explored the molecular mechanisms that cause tissue death to occur.

‘Neutrophils � a type of white blood cells are involved in causing cell death (necrosis) in a particular type of brain cancer, glioblastomas. But these high levels of neutrophils were observed with poor survival rates among patients. This signifies the need for developing therapeutic approaches for preventing necrosis and further worsening. ’

"Glioblastoma patients with higher degrees of necrosis have a poor chance of survival. We hope insight into the processes that drive this tissue death can help us develop new therapeutics to improve outcomes for these patients", saidWei Li, assistant professor of pediatrics and biochemistry and molecular biology.

Neutrophil's Role in Brain Cancer: The team observed that a specific type of regulated cell death - ferroptosis was responsible for tissue death. On examining the tumor tissue samples from animal models of glioblastoma, they found that neutrophils, a type of white blood cell, were present in the same areas as dead tumor cells.

The team further explored whether these cells were part of the tissue death process. On decreasing the number of neutrophils in animal models, the amount of necrosis in those cancer models was also reduced.

They also isolated these white blood cells and tested them against cancer cells in a lab and found that the presence of neutrophils prevented the cancer cells from thriving.

Such increased levels of neutrophils along with the presence of genetic signals of ferroptosis were found to be associated with pathological evidence of necrosis. This correlated with patient's poor survival rates. The researchers stated that further studies are required to gain insights into this mechanism.

"If we can develop therapeutic approaches for preventing necrosis, there's a chance those tumors might be less aggressive, which could be beneficial to glioblastoma patients," Li said.

Source: Medindia