I saw this on the local news Friday evening and found this very interesting. A new device called the Optune is helping patients with malignant glioblastoma add longevity to their fight. Optune works by surrounding the brain tissue with alternating electrical fields, which has shown to reduce tumor cell division. As posted in PhysicsToday*, the use of alternating electrical fields as a cancer treatment is becoming increasingly wide-spread. Research suggests that the use of alternating electric fields affects the dipoles created by tubulin dimers in the microtubule assembly of the mitotic spindle. Thus, this therapy directly hinders the mitotic spindle's ability to effectively divide tumor daughter cells. Though use of Optune is certainly not a cure for glioblastoma, this treatment has been found to add additional 3-5 months of life expectancy to patients; given that life expectancy at glioblastoma diagnosis ranges from six month to two years, this gift of extra time allows those affected to experience more of a life they wish to live. Who knows...this now treatment could in fact one day be a cure.
*The link directs you to an external website that displays the article; it does not take you to PhysicsToday. The article was accessed originally from PhysicsToday via use of login from my undergrad library (subscription is required to view article directly from PhysicsToday).
This is very interesting, and must give those affected great hope. I wonder what the long term effects are of disturbing microtubule assembly, I read the article and it talked about how neurons don't need a mitotic spindle since normal neurons don't undergo mitosis, however microtubules are also important for intracellular transport which may also be disrupted by this technique. Furthermore I am curious about the affects on neural function; the article mentions that the electrical stimulation is small however any additional electrical stimulation could disrupt the normal electromagnetic activity of neural cells (since electrical fields and changing electric currents cause magnetic fields per Maxwell's equations). I realize it would be hard to answer these questions since the life expectancy with the disorder is already so short, however it is encouraging that these patients are able to increase their odds for survival for those extra months and the long term affects may not be so relevant.
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