Team discovered that cells use bradykinin to metastasize, and an
approved angioedema drug could block this process. Researchers
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are reporting
that they may have found a way to stop glioma from spreading by
using a drug already approved in Europe. They discovered that
bradykinin, a peptide that increases the size of blood vessels,
is the mechanism glioma cells use to find blood vessels. Glioma
cells carry a receptor for bradykinin, called the B2R receptor.
The researchers introduced a B2R inhibitor known as HOE 140, a
laboratory version of Icatibant, a medication sanctioned in
Europe for hereditary angioedema. HOE 140 bound to the B2R
receptor on glioma cells, interfering with the receptor’s
opportunity to bind to bradykinin. “We found that 77 percent of
glioma cells with bradykinin were able to locate a blood vessel
and tap into its nutrients,” explains Vedrana Montana, Ph.D.,
co-author of the research, which is published March 30 in the
Journal of Neuroscience