... The basic scientific consensus surrounding glioma, the most common form of fatal brain tumor that affects every four in 100,000 people, is that sugars fuel its growth. However, a new study from Newcastle University shows that fats are its primary energy source.
Researchers behind the study published Wednesday in the medical journal Neuro-Oncology, mutated stem cells from mice into forms that contribute to the accumulation of glioma tumors in humans. They implanted them in other mice with similar genetic backgrounds, and treated them with a fatty acid oxidation inhibitor called etomoxir that blocked their ability to process fat as fuel. Then they measured the speed of the tumors' growth.
The glioma tumors treated with the inhibitor grew at a much slower rate "prolonging median survival time by 17 percent," said lead study author Dr. Elizabeth Stoll from Newcastle University's Institute of Neuroscience.