EUROMEDICA  Hanover 1-2  Juni 2007	Advanced methods of diagnosis, treatment and prophylactics
	European Academy of Natural Sciences, Hanover European Scientific Society, Hanover Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Moscow

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A promising approach for novel treatment of GABA - sensitive tumors.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the most common inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. GABA can, however, also be found in neural and nonneural tissues outside the brain, including the gastrointestinal tract. GABA also playing a role in diseases like cancer. Elevated amounts of GABA were discovered in an analysis of some tumors. Several reports recently showed that expression of GABA significantly increased in neoplastic tissues, such as colorectal carcinoma, breast cancer, and gastric cancer, as compared with normal tissues. The researchers investigated metastatic neuroendocrine tumors, which include aggressive types of lung, thyroid, and prostate cancers. GABA appears to be an indicator of a bad prognosis for these cancers. The researchers believe that metastatic neuroendocrine tumor cells use GABA signaling processes to communicate with each other and with their environment. GABA stimulation increases the invasive ability of cancer cells. They found that, indeed, the different cancer cells contain GABA receptors - the surfaces of tumor cells are studded with inhibitory receptors. That includes, to date, some ovarian and colon cancers. A results, presented at the meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest a novel approach to treatment of cancers now known to have neurotransmitter receptors on the outside of their cells.

A therapeutic option to effectively inhibit growth and spread of GABA- sensitive tumors are still limited. It might be possible to develop strategies to delay or prevent metastasis formation either by blocking the involved receptors or by interfering with the intracellular signal transduction. A promising approach for novel treatment of GABA- sensitive tumors may be the modulation of the GABA-Receptor-System. SSAO- and GABA- blocker semicarbazide (SEM) may eventually play an important role in controlling the spread of cancer. The study was an investigator initiated open pilot trial. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of a combination treatment of SEM and Cadmium-Based Drugs (CBD) in terminal cancer patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The main results presented at the meeting of the Medcity Research Laboratory, Finland in 2006. In all, 7 patients with incurable metastatic colorectal cancer were enrolled. The main results: Therapy was well tolerated, the side- effects were within acceptable levels. The patient’s life-spans were significantly increased after this treatment. The stabilization of the tumor size (n-3) and the reduction (n-1) in the size of tumor was registered. Histological: instances of fibrosis in tumor tissues. Although further investigation is necessary, blockade of the GABA-mediated pathway may have potential therapeutic value to prevent cancer progression or metastasis. This is the clinical evidence that SEM (as a part of chemotherapy) is a potent inhibitor of cancer metastasis.