Russian scientists have found a way to treat brain cancer in a dream

MOSCOW, May 16SSU scientists have developed a new technology that allows one to fight a brain tumor during a patient’s deep sleep. The method relies on the use of infrared lasers and stimulation of brain tissue drainage. The results were published in the journal Biomedicines.
Glioblastoma of the brain is an aggressive malignant tumor that grows rapidly, destroys surrounding healthy tissue, and often has a poor prognosis. The main obstacle in the treatment of this disease is the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is located between the bloodstream and the brain, protecting it from toxins.
However, the BBB, while protecting the brain, also limits the penetration of 95% of drugs into its tissues. A tumor growing in healthy vessels, where the blood-brain barrier is not destroyed, recurs after removal, growing into other areas of the brain that are inaccessible to drugs.

For this reason, non-pharmacological treatment methods are actively developing in the search for treatments for brain tumors. One of these areas is photodynamic therapy, when a special substance (photosensitizer) is injected into the blood. It specifically accumulates in the tumor, which helps the surgeon determine the areas of surgical intervention. However, this method cannot be used to treat infants and patients who are allergic to photosensitizers.

Scientists from Saratov National Research State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky (SSU) proposed a new approach to the treatment of glioblastoma while the patient is sleeping. As a result of the research, it was found that the developed method eliminates the need to use photosensitizers and overcome the protective BBB.

Treatment relies on the use of infrared lasers and stimulation of brain tissue drainage (photobiomodulation). As a result, the lymphatic “vacuum cleaners” of the brain are activated, which remove toxins and increase immunity, suppressing tumor growth.
“Lymph vacuum cleaners” work most effectively during deep sleep, when we do not dream and the brain works exclusively for itself. At this moment, it turns into a “washing machine” and “washes” its fabrics from “clogs” or metabolites accumulated during the day,” explained Oksana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya, head of the department of human and animal physiology at Saratov State University, emphasizing that the technology is portable and safe.

“There are no such technologies in the world yet,” she added.
SSU scientists claim that in the future the developed method can be used not only for the treatment of brain tumors, but also other diseases , in particular, Alzheimer's disease. The technology is currently undergoing the licensing procedure. Pilot clinical studies will take place in 2025.

As reported at the university, this pioneering direction first arose in Russia precisely in the Smart Sleep laboratory, created in 2019 to implement the government megagrant «Lymphason» «. The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) grant No. 23-25-00296.