Blocking a signal between brain immune cells could make glioblastoma easier to remove

Glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumour, is hard to operate on because it does not sit in one tidy lump — it spreads fingers of cancer through healthy brain. In a study published in Cancer Cell, researchers at VIB and KU Leuven in Belgium found a way to keep it contained: by interrupting specific conversations between the brain's immune cells, called microglia, and the tumour cells, they reduced the cancer's spread, leaving tumours more compact. A contained tumour is a tumour a surgeon stands a better chance of removing more completely. It is early, laboratory-stage work — but it identifies a concrete new strategy, targeting the tumour's support system rather than only the tumour itself, for one of the diagnoses that most needs new ideas.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation