Operating on the brain isn't easy. In fact, it's one of the most delicate types of operation even a veteran surgeon will be nervous to work on.
However, should the brain "paint" succeeds in its first human trial, operating on a brain may become more efficient, faster, and comfortable for both the patient and the surgeon.
This brain paint is actually a molecule called BLZ-100. It's under the license of Blaze Bioscience Inc. but it's pioneered by Dr. Jim Olson, who works in Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
On Thursday, October 23, the biotech firm located in Seattle announced that they have already received the go signal from the Food and Drug Administration to begin testing their special dye in more than 15 patients across already identified hospitals, which include Cedars-Sinai Medical Center found in Los Angeles, California, and NEWRFO Foundation in Queensland, Australia.
The patients who have been chosen to participate in the trial are those who required surgery for their brain cancer called glioblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of cancer because they grow on the different parts of the brain and are very aggressive. They are also adults from 18 to 75 years old, although the team hopes to work on children in the future.
The tumor paint, which will be introduced into the bloodstream of the patient, is a molecule that is composed of two main components. The first one is the dye that lights up once it acknowledges the presence of infrared light. The other is a type of protein called chlorotoxin that binds itself into only certain proteins that are found in tumor cells. This protein is the one that is also found in the venom of stalker scorpion, although for the experiments and future production, the protein is already created in the lab, which means they don't work on the scorpions anymore.
With the paint, surgeons may also be able to detect the low-grade tumor cells, those that cannot be easily determined by standard body scans, as well as preserve healthy brain tissues.