Vice Chairman and Residency Program Director, Director, Kenneth R. Peak Brain and Pituitary Tumor Treatment Center Houston Methodist Hospital Houston, Texas, United States
Disclosure(s):
David S. Baskin, MD, FACS, FAANS: No financial relationships to disclose
Introduction: The noninvasive Oncomagnetic device developed in our laboratory selectively kills glioblastoma (GBM) and other cancer cells while sparing normal developing neurons and astrocytes in vitro. We have evidence that the spinning oscillating magnetic fields (sOMF) generated by this device disrupts electron transport in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, at least in part by inhibiting the activity of Complex II, succinate dehydrogenase, leading to a marked increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and consequent cancer cell death.
Methods: We have reported that brief 2–6 h of daily Oncomagnetic brain stimulation causes >30% reduction of contrast-enhanced tumor (CET) volume in an end-stage recurrent GBM patient after a ~30-day treatment. Here, we further studied the cellular effects of sOMF treatment alone and in combination with Temozolomide (TMZ) on GBM cell lines with other methods and investigated the response to Oncomagnetic monotherapy (OMT) in a mouse GBM model.
Results: We treated LN229 and U87 GBM cells with sOMF with and without a sub-therapeutic dose of TMZ. To study the anticancer effect of sOMF in vivo, we developed syngeneic GBM tumors in BALB/c mice by stereotactic intracranial injection of GL261WT cells. Our results show that cytotoxic effects of sOMF or TMZ alone, as measured by the MTT assay and reduced cell survival, are significantly potentiated by combining the two treatments. OMT of tumor-bearing mice using a whole-body sOMF stimulation method causes a substantial retardation of tumor growth and reduction of the CET volume in 9.4 T MRI scans.
Conclusion : These studies document the powerful effects of OMT in animal models of GBM, and demonstrate the synergist effects of OMT with TMZ treatment. This treatment is a potentially powerful tool that can improve outcome and reduce toxicity in patients.
