Brain Cancer News and Research

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There are two main types of brain cancer. Primary brain cancer starts in the brain. Metastatic brain cancer starts somewhere else in the body and moves to the brain. Brain tumors can be benign, with no cancer cells, or malignant, with cancer cells that grow quickly. Also called glioma, meningioma.

Blocking FGL2 protein may offer new approach to treating brain cancer

Blocking FGL2, a protein known to promote cancer, may offer a new strategy for treating brain cancer, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

14 May 2015

Experimental gene therapy holds promise against metastatic prostate cancer

Even with the best available treatments, the median survival of patients with metastatic, hormone-refractory prostate cancer is only two to three years. Driven by the need for more effective therapies for these patients, researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine have developed a unique approach that uses microscopic gas bubbles to deliver directly to the cancer a viral gene therapy in combination with an experimental drug that targets a specific gene driving the cancer's growth.

12 May 2015

Researchers identify promising combination strategy for treating glioblastomas

Therapies that specifically target mutations in a person's cancer have been much-heralded in recent years, yet cancer cells often find a way around them. To address this, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center identified a promising combinatorial approach to treating glioblastomas, the most common form of primary brain cancer.

10 May 2015

Experimental cancer drug shows promise against incurable paediatric brain cancer

US-Australian drug discovery company, Novogen Limited, in conjunction with Australian paediatric cancer researchers, released key pre-clinical data on experimental cancer drug-candidate, TRXE-009, confirming its potential to become an important new therapy against an incurable paediatric brain cancer called DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma).

8 May 2015

Findings provide glimmer of hope for treating diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas

Using brain tumor samples collected from children in the United States and Europe, an international team of scientists found that the drug panobinostat and similar gene regulating drugs may be effective at treating diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG), an aggressive and lethal form of pediatric cancer.

5 May 2015

Oncologists need to screen tumor patients for depression

Because depression in brain cancer patients is a common but often overlooked condition, oncologists should regularly screen tumor patients for depression, according to an article in the current issue of CNS Oncology. The journal is published by Future Medicine, an imprint of Future Science Group.

30 Apr 2015

MD Anderson researchers identify key factor that may explain drug resistance in glioblastoma

Researchers at the NFCR Center for Cancer System Informatics at MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a key factor that may explain drug resistance in glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and deadliest form of brain cancer.

20 Apr 2015

Patterns of DNA anomalies can predict outcomes in women with ovarian cancer

Nearly anyone touched by ovarian cancer will tell you: it's devastating. It's bad enough that cancer in almost 80 percent of patients reaches advanced stages before diagnosis, and that most patients are expected to die within five years. But just as painfully, roughly one quarter of women diagnosed have no warning that they are resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy, the main line of defense, nor that they will likely have 18 months to live.

16 Apr 2015

Biologists discover vulnerability of brain cancer cells

Biologists at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have discovered a vulnerability of brain cancer cells that could be exploited to develop more-effective drugs against brain tumors.

9 Apr 2015

Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon awarded Cortes de Cadiz Prize by the city council of Cadiz, Spain

Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa has been awarded the Cortes de Cadiz Prize in the category of surgery by the city council of Cadiz, Spain. The jury prize, in which members of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery took part, was awarded to Quinones-Hinojosa not only for his renowned scientific career but also for his “moving life experience,” which, the judges noted, is full of “self-improvement and success.”

9 Apr 2015

Two case studies provide potential new avenue for treatment of kidney cancer

UT Southwestern Medical Center Kidney Cancer Program investigators have published what is believed to be the first reported successful use of stereotactic body radiation therapy for an often deadly complication of kidney cancer.

8 Apr 2015

Study suggests possibility of developing personalized treatments for brain cancer

DNA mutations can cause cancer but in some cases, more mutations may mean a better prognosis for patients. A Yale-led comprehensive genomic analysis of more than 700 brain tumors has revealed one such subtype of the most malignant brain tumor, called glioblastoma, or GBM. This subtype possesses thousands of tumor-specific DNA errors or mutations instead of dozens observed in most glioblastoma cases. It is also associated with longer survival.

8 Apr 2015

Researchers pinpoint molecular mechanisms that inhibit Hippo pathway in pediatric bone cancers

A particular molecular pathway permits stem cells in pediatric bone cancers to grow rapidly and aggressively, according to researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center.

2 Apr 2015

Experimental drug that attacks brain tumor cells passes early tests

An experimental drug that attacks brain tumor tissue by crippling the cells' energy source called the mitochondria has passed early tests in animal models and human tissue cultures, say Houston Methodist scientists.

25 Mar 2015

2015 Minds Matter event raises funds to support brain tumor research

One day in 2009, Maria Nijim's father got behind the wheel of his car and realized he couldn't see out of one eye. An MRI showed a tumor and then surgery confirmed a devastating diagnosis – glioblastoma – the most aggressive type of brain tumor.

25 Mar 2015

EHT expert paper raises important and unanswered questions about safety of wearable tech

Wearable technology is raising health concerns worldwide. A recent New York Times article by Nick Bilton is raising important and unanswered questions about the safety of wearable tech, according to the non-profit research group, Environmental Health Trust.

23 Mar 2015

Researchers find way to enhance effects of immunotherapy in glioblastoma

When cancer strikes, it may be possible for patients to fight back with their own defenses, using a strategy known as immunotherapy. According to a new study published in Nature, researchers have found a way to enhance the effects of this therapeutic approach in glioblastoma, a deadly type of brain cancer, and possibly improve patient outcomes.

20 Mar 2015