{"id":4615,"date":"2024-06-21T15:14:26","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T15:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/21\/hiv-drugs-ritonavir-and-lopinavir-trialled-in-people-with-neurofibromatosis-2-brain-tumours\/"},"modified":"2024-06-21T15:14:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T15:14:26","slug":"hiv-drugs-ritonavir-and-lopinavir-trialled-in-people-with-neurofibromatosis-2-brain-tumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/21\/hiv-drugs-ritonavir-and-lopinavir-trialled-in-people-with-neurofibromatosis-2-brain-tumours\/","title":{"rendered":"HIV drugs ritonavir and lopinavir trialled in people with neurofibromatosis 2 brain tumours"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Drugs used to treat HIV are to be trialled in people with incurable multiple brain tumours.<\/p>\n

Scientists think ritonavir and lopinavir could shrink tumours in patients with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2), a genetic condition where tumours grow along nerves.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The tumours are normally non-cancerous but can cause symptoms such as balance problems, hearing loss and ringing in the ears.<\/p>\n

If they are in the brain and spinal cord or along the nerves of the arms and legs, sufferers can get persistent headaches and limb weakness.<\/p>\n

About one in 25,000 to 40,000 people have NF2 but there are no treatments apart from surgery.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

A trial involving 12 people will for the first time explore lab studies that show the HIV<\/strong> drugs can shrink and slow down NF2 tumours.<\/p>\n

Other studies have suggested they could also help other types of brain tumour.<\/p>\n

Professor Oliver Hanemann, from the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth, is leading the trial.<\/p>\n

“This could be the first step towards a systemic treatment for tumours related to NF2, both for patients who have inherited NF2 and developed multiple tumours, as well as patients who have a one-off NF2 mutation and have developed a tumour as a result,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If results are positive and the research develops into a larger clinical trial, it would be the most significant change for patients with this condition, for whom there is no effective treatment.”<\/p>\n

The trial will see patients take the two medicines for 30 days and having a biopsy and blood test both before and after.<\/p>\n

Jayne Sweeney, 57, who’s had chemotherapy and five operations to remove tumours in her brain, ankle and ear, said the trial was “incredibly exciting”.<\/p>\n

“If we can find an effective drug for people newly diagnosed, that would be fantastic,” she said.<\/p>\n

“For me, the loss of hearing is the worst thing about having NF2 because it’s very isolating and frustrating.”<\/p>\n

“Finding better and kinder ways to treat the disease is so important,” she added.<\/p>\n

In half of NF2 cases, the faulty gene is passed from mother to child, but in others cases the gene appears to develop spontaneously.<\/p>\n

Most patients eventually get serious hearing loss that becomes worse over time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drugs used to treat HIV are to be trialled in people with incurable multiple brain…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}