Neuro oncology News and Research

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Retroviral replicating vector can extend lives of brain cancer patients

Doctors at UCLA, Cleveland Clinic, University of California San Diego School of Medicine and additional institutions have achieved a milestone in the development of a treatment for people with recurrent glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, by successfully demonstrating a modified virus that can extend the lives of patients with the disease.

2 Jun 2016

Scientists discover new diagnostic marker for liver cancer

Scientists may have discovered a significant new diagnostic marker for liver cancer, according to a paper published in the April 18 online issue of Nature Cell Biology.

19 Apr 2016

Research reviews importance of blood-brain barrier, blood-tumor barrier in treatment of brain tumors

The research thoroughly reviews the importance of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the blood-tumor barrier (BTB) along with the current status and future perspectives of interesting physical and surgical strategies to circumvent these central nervous system (CNS) barriers in the treatment of malignant brain tumors.

10 Mar 2016

Expression of BIRC3 protein associated with poor survival, recurrent disease in GBM patients

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor with low survival rates, with newly diagnosed patients surviving a median of 14 months and recurrent patients surviving a median of only 3 to 9 months. New therapeutic targets and biomarkers for prognosis are urgently needed.

7 Mar 2016

Study provides critical insight into Warburg effect

PGK1, a glycolytic enzyme, has been found to play a role in coordinating cellular processes crucial to cancer metabolism and brain tumor formation, according to results published in today's online issue of Molecular Cell. The findings may lay the groundwork for improved approaches to diagnosis and treatment of glioblastoma and other cancers.

4 Mar 2016

Radiotherapy plus panobinostat more effective for aggressive, recurrent brain cancer

Radiotherapy effectively damages brain tumors but the cancer cells can repair themselves in order to live on. Now, researchers at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center have tested a strategy that combines radiotherapy with a drug that shuts down the ability of tumor to mend themselves.

27 Feb 2016

New report reveals malignant brain tumors as most common cause of cancer-related deaths in young people

A new report published in the journal Neuro-Oncology and funded by the American Brain Tumor Association finds that malignant brain tumors are the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in adolescents and young adults aged 15-39 and the most common cancer occurring among 15-19 year olds.

25 Feb 2016

Researchers identify common molecular alteration in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive manifestation of brain tumours. Due to its high invasive capacity and uncontrolled, infiltrating growth, it is particularly difficult to manage. Currently, the treatment for this disease consists of a combination of surgery (when possible), radiation and chemotherapy.

22 Feb 2016

West Cancer Center introduces promising new treatment method for brain cancer patients

Brain Cancer patients in the Mid-South now have a promising new treatment method at West Cancer Center. Optune™, a portable device using low intensity electric fields to inhibit cancer cell replication causing death of cancer cells, is the first FDA-approved therapy in more than a decade to show a significant extension in overall survival rates for newly diagnosed adult Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) patients.

11 Feb 2016

MYB-QKI fusion gene that drives pediatric low-grade gliomas poses a triple threat

Oncology researchers have discovered that an abnormal fused gene that drives pediatric brain tumors poses a triple threat, operating simultaneously through three distinct biological mechanisms—the first such example in cancer biology.

2 Feb 2016

New nanotechnology approach could transform gliomas from death sentence into treatable condition

An MRI contrast agent that can pass through the blood-brain barrier will allow doctors to detect deadly brain tumors called gliomas earlier, say Penn State College of Medicine researchers. This ability opens the door to make this fatal cancer treatable.

18 Dec 2015

Experimental drugs that modify cell metabolism also halt tumor growth

Experimental drugs that alter cell metabolism also halted tumor growth and extended survival in mice with cancers linked to changes in the same gene, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center, its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center and Massachusetts General Hospital.

15 Dec 2015

Gene may play role in protecting breast cancer patients from developing chemobrain

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has established that variation of a gene may have a role in protecting cancer patients from developing chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment, commonly known as 'chemofog' or 'chemobrain'.

9 Dec 2015

TGen: PPF drug could help treat patients with deadly brain cancer

In a significant breakthrough, the Translational Genomics Research Institute has identified a drug, propentofylline or PPF, that could help treat patients with deadly brain cancer.

13 Nov 2015

Rabbit virus can be paired with existing drug to deliver more potent punch to brain tumor cells

A rabbit virus currently being developed for cancer therapy can be paired with one of several existing drugs to deliver a more potent punch to a deadly type of brain tumor cell, researchers have found.

7 Oct 2015

Innovative vaccine therapy shows promise against glioblastoma brain tumors

An innovative vaccine therapy developed at Roswell Park Cancer Institute is being tested in a multisite clinical trial involving 50 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma brain tumors. The phase II study, now accruing patients at both Roswell Park and the Cleveland Clinic, will assess the effectiveness of the SurVaxM vaccine in combination with standard chemotherapy as treatment for this often-fatal cancer.

10 Sep 2015

Brain tumor is not always the death sentence

Only half of brain cancers actually start in the brain. The rest - as in the case of former president Jimmy Carter - are metastatic tumors from cancer that originated elsewhere in the body.

29 Aug 2015

BET inhibitors can cause molecular changes in neurons, lead to memory loss in mice

Cancer researchers are constantly in search of more-effective and less-toxic approaches to stopping the disease, and have recently launched clinical trials testing a new class of drugs called BET inhibitors. These therapies act on a group of proteins that help regulate the expression of many genes, some of which play a role in cancer.

25 Aug 2015

MGH study reveals effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the brain tissue of glioblastoma patients

A study from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center researchers - the first to examine the effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the healthy brain tissue of glioblastoma patients - reveals not only specific structural changes within patients' brains but also that the effect of cancer therapy on the normal brain appears to be progressive and continues even after radiation therapy has ceased.

18 Aug 2015

Regulation of tumor microenvironment may offer alternate method for cancer treatment

Scientists know that activation of growth factor receptors like epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) promote tumor progression in many types of cancer.