Glioblastoma News and Research

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Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and malignant form of glioma, a type of primary brain cancer. Surgery is often used to treat gliomas, along with radiation. However, since surgery and radiation fail to cure the disease, doctors may turn to additional radiation or chemotherapy. In early stages glioblastoma tumors often grow without symptoms and therefore can become quite large before symptoms arise. When the tumor becomes symptomatic, tumor growth is usually very rapid and is accompanied by altered brain function, and if left untreated the disease becomes lethal. Although primary treatment is often successful in temporarily stopping the progression of the tumor, glioblastomas almost always recur and become lethal.

Customized virus kills brain tumor stem cells that drive lethal cancer

A tailored virus destroys brain tumor stem cells that resist other therapies and cause lethal re-growth of cancer after surgery, a research team led by scientists at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Sept. 18 edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

12 Sep 2007

New anti-cancer drug made from corn lillies kills brain tumor stem cells

A drug that shuts down a critical cell-signaling pathway in the most common and aggressive type of adult brain cancer successfully kills cancer stem cells thought to fuel tumor growth and help cancers evade drug and radiation therapy, a Johns Hopkins study shows.

30 Aug 2007

Electricity - a new weapon for stalling the progression of cancer

Low-intensity electric fields can disrupt the division of cancer cells and slow the growth of brain tumors, suggest laboratory experiments and a small human trial, raising hopes that electric fields will become a new weapon for stalling the progression of cancer.

3 Aug 2007

Barr confirms patent challenge of TEMODAR

Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has confirmed that its subsidiary, Barr Laboratories, Inc., has initiated a challenge of the patent listed for Schering Corporation's TEMODAR (Temozolomide) 5mg, 20mg, 100mg & 250mg capsules.

25 Jul 2007

Critical link found between two proteins found in brain tumors

MIT researchers have identified a critical link between two proteins found in brain tumors, a discovery that could eventually help treat a form of brain cancer that kills 99 percent of patients.

20 Jul 2007

New contributor to aggressive cancers

Mutations in the cell adhesion molecule known as integrin alpha 7 (integrin 7) lead to unchecked tumor cell proliferation and a significantly higher incidence in cancer spread, or metastasis, in several cancer cell lines, report researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

8 Jun 2007

Vorinostat shows anti-cancer activity in recurrent gliomas

North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) researchers, based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., report that a novel application of the drug vorinostat shows activity in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

5 Jun 2007

Chemotherapy may enhance the effectiveness of the vaccines

Chemotherapy temporarily hinders the body's immune response, creating a concern that it may interfere with the promising new cancer vaccines being used against brain tumors.

5 Jun 2007

Device to treat brain cancer shows promise

New early data showed that an investigational device that specifically targets rapidly growing cancer cells with intermediate frequency electrical fields -- called Tumor-Treating Fields (TTFields) -- more than doubled the median overall survival rates in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of malignant brain tumor.

1 Jun 2007

Investigational device to treat brain cancer shows promise in early studies

30 May 2007

New mechanism identified for resistance to targeted lung cancer drugs

An international research team, led by investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), has found a new way that some lung tumors become resistant to treatment with targeted therapy drugs like Iressa and Tarceva.

27 Apr 2007

Scientists tackle cancer with different approaches

Studies presented at the 2007 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research show how researchers are using the new, as well as the natural, to help design and test new drugs to treat cancer.

18 Apr 2007

Biomira selects PX-866 as clinical development candidate

Biomira Inc. has announced that it has selected PX-866 as its next clinical development candidate.

17 Apr 2007

Stanford brain tumor vaccine to be tested nationally

When Susan Wright learned that she had a type of fatal, rapidly growing brain cancer at age 46, her doctors at the University of Florida told her she wouldn't live more than 18 months.

22 Mar 2007

Mayo Clinic tests engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new Phase I clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that currently has no cure. This is the third of a series of molecular medicine studies in patients testing the potential of measles to kill cancer.

5 Mar 2007

Interleukin-13 receptor-targeted nanovesicles are a potential therapy for glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme is among the most aggressive and difficult cancers to treat. Now, researchers at Penn State University have shown that a lipid-based nanoparticle, designed to bind to a specific receptor found on malignant brain cells but not healthy ones, improves the potency of a common anticancer drug and slows significantly the growth of glioblastoma in mice.

8 Jan 2007