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.

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

EMA grants Orphan Drug Designation to venetoclax for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia

AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the European Medicines Agency has granted Orphan Drug Designation to venetoclax, an investigational, oral B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitor, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

26 Feb 2016

Neurosurgeons use laser probe to deliver chemotherapy drugs to patients with glioblastoma

Using a laser probe, neurosurgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have opened the brain's protective cover, enabling them to deliver chemotherapy drugs to patients with a form of deadly brain cancer.

26 Feb 2016

UNC-Chapel Hill pharmacy researchers use skin cells to destroy brain tumors

In a first for medical science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pharmacy researchers turn skin cells into cancer-hunting stem cells that destroy brain tumors known as glioblastoma - a discovery that can offer, for the first time in more than 30 years, a new and more effective treatment for the disease.

25 Feb 2016

Immunotherapy emerges as promising strategy for treatment of brain tumors

For decades most cancers have been treated with a core standard of treatments that include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Now, immunotherapy—a type of treatment that harnesses the patient's immune system to combat the disease—represents the future of cancer treatment, with its efficacy being demonstrated in even the most aggressive types of cancer.

24 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

Researchers make some progress in determining causes for glioblastoma multiforme

A research team, with the participation of the University of Granada (UGR), has made some progress in determining the causes for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), one of the most aggressive brain tumors known, to be resistant to the drugs currently used, which is one of the main limitations of its treatment.

18 Feb 2016

Apogenix awarded €3 million grant to develop immuno-oncology candidate APG101 as personalized therapy

Apogenix, a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation immuno-oncology therapeutics, announced today that it has received funding approval in the amount of €3 million from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the so-called CancerMark project.

16 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

Combined MRI and ultramicroscopy toolkit could help study vessel growth in glioma models in more detail

Stopping the growth of blood vessels in tumours is a key target for glioblastoma therapies, and imaging methods are essential for initial diagnosis and monitoring the effects of treatments. While mapping vessels in tumours has proven a challenge, researchers have now developed a combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultramicroscopy 'toolkit' to study vessel growth in glioma models in more detail than previously possible.

3 Feb 2016

Study provides detailed new information about diffuse glioma

An international collaborative study has revealed detailed new information about diffuse glioma, the most common type of tumor found in some 80 percent of adult brain cancer patients, raising hopes that better understanding of these disease groups may aid improved clinical outcomes.

29 Jan 2016

Researchers reveal totally new biological mechanism that underlies cancer

In a landmark study, researchers from the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital reveal a completely new biological mechanism that underlies cancer. By studying brain tumors that carry mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) genes, the team uncovered some unusual changes in the instructions for how the genome folds up on itself.

13 Jan 2016

Salk Institute scientists find new target for glioblastoma multiforme treatment

Glioblastoma multiforme is a particularly deadly cancer. A person diagnosed with this type of brain tumor typically survives 15 months, if given the best care. The late Senator Ted Kennedy succumbed to this disease in just over a year.

11 Jan 2016

Researchers reveal specific enzyme responsible for sensing energy source that fuels growth of cancer cells

An international research team formed by a University of Cincinnati cancer researcher has shown for the first time that a specific enzyme is responsible for sensing the available supply of GTP, an energy source that fuels the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. The research underscores the enzyme's potential to become a therapeutic target for future cancer drugs.

11 Jan 2016

Northwest Biotherapeutics closes registered direct placement of $12.6M

Northwest Biotherapeutics, a biotechnology company developing DCVax® personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, today announced the closing of its previously-announced registered direct placement with healthcare focused institutional investors, for gross proceeds of $12.6 million on the terms previously announced.

26 Dec 2015

Drugs approved for various conditions also have antibiotic properties

A number of drugs already approved to treat parasitic infections, cancers, infertility and other conditions also show promise as antibiotic agents against staph and tuberculosis infections, according to a new study by University of Illinois chemists and collaborators. Because these agents act against multiple targets within the bacteria, it may be harder for bacteria to develop resistance.

23 Dec 2015

Researchers outline novel molecular interactions affecting key cancer pathway in humans

Researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore have delineated novel molecular interactions affecting the activity of the TGF-β pathway, a key cancer pathway in humans affecting cancer progression.

22 Dec 2015

Use of tumor-treating fields along with chemotherapy improves survival in patients with brain tumor

Early research indicates that the use of tumor-treating fields, a type of electromagnetic field therapy, along with chemotherapy in patients with a brain tumor who had completed standard chemoradiation resulted in prolonged progression-free and overall survival, according to a study in the December 15 issue of JAMA.

16 Dec 2015

ImmunoCellular partners with CBTC for ICT-107 phase 3 registrational trial in patients with glioblastoma

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. today announced the establishment of an agreement with a major Canadian cancer cooperative group, The Canadian Brain Tumour Consortium, for the phase 3 registrational trial of its cancer immunotherapy ICT-107 in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

14 Dec 2015

New nanocarriers may effectively deliver therapeutic drug to GBM tumors

Glioblastoma multiforme, a cancer of the brain also known as "octopus tumors" because of the manner in which the cancer cells extend their tendrils into surrounding tissue, is virtually inoperable, resistant to therapies, and always fatal, usually within 15 months of onset.

20 Nov 2015