Brain tumors

Despite considerable progress in neuro-oncological research, the treatment of brain tumors remains problematic. This applies in particular to glioblastoma, the most prognostically unfavorable malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite a combination therapy of microsurgical removal (resection) and concomitant radiochemotherapy, the average survival time is still only one to two years. Due to the infiltrative growth pattern, the recurrence rate after resection is up to 90% after one year.

One focus of the Clinical Department's experimental laboratory is neuro-oncological research with tumor cells derived from human brain tumors and with tumor cell lines. As an animal model, we use the BT4Ca glioblastoma cell line, which grows into a solid tumor with infiltrative growth within a few days after stereotactic injection into frontal brain regions of rats. Shortly after microsurgical resection, only marginal tumor cells are detectable, from which a solid tumor develops again after about two weeks. This rat model is suitable for testing the local efficacy of drugs, either after microinjection or after administration into the resection cavity. In a similar setup, we also want to test the effect of a high-frequency alternating electric field (TTF) on tumor growth. The effectiveness of such a field on the growth of tumor cells in cell culture has already been demonstrated.