Researchers from Canada have discovered that a protein long connected to Alzheimer’s disease helps lung cancer cells in mice spread to the brain.  

40% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer suffer brain metastases, which are brain tumours that occur primarily in other organs of the body, and there are few therapies available. 

The researchers from McMaster University, Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center used the genome editing CRISPR technique to individually turn on thousands of genes in lung cancer cells from a patient. By injecting those cells into mice, the team discovered that cells with gene BACE1 activated were more likely to invade the brain.  

The researchers treated the BACE1 tumour-bearing mice with a drug called Verubecestat, which blocks the protein, and found that the brain metastases were fewer and smaller, and the mice lived longer.  

Verubecestat had previously been in advanced clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease, but the drug did not show sufficient benefits to outweigh the risks. However, it may now offer promise in slowing or preventing the dissemination of lung cancer to the brain.  

“The discovery of BACE1 opens the door to repurposing existing treatments like Verubecestat to potentially prevent or slow the spread of lung cancer to the brain, where treatment options are currently very limited,” says Sheila Singh, senior author of the work published in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine.