Brain Tumor News and Research

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A Brain Tumor is the growth of abnormal cells in the tissues of the brain. Brain tumors can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer).

Changes to LZTR1 gene predispose people to develop schwannomas

Changes to a gene called LZTR1 predispose people to develop a rare disorder where multiple tumors called schwannomas form near nerve pathways, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Genetics and led by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

24 Dec 2013

Manipulating epigenetic mechanism may promote cell death in pediatric brain cancer

Researchers at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the university hospital (Hospital de Cl-nicas de Porto Alegre, HCPA) and the Children's Cancer Institute (Instituto do C-ncer Infantil do Rio Grande do Sul, ICI-RS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, have shown that manipulating an epigenetic mechanism, which regulates gene expression, may promote cell death and favor maturation towards less malignant-prone phenotypes in pediatric brain cancer cell lines.

22 Dec 2013

TGen, Nemucore, and Barrow collaboration aims for new drugs to treat glioblastoma

The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation today announced a $3 million grant to the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Nemucore Medical Innovations Inc., and Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center to help fund significant brain tumor research in Arizona.

18 Dec 2013

Neuro-Oncology publishes promising phase 2 results from Agenus’ brain cancer vaccine study

Agenus Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel immune system activating treatments for cancers and infectious diseases, today announced results published from a Phase 2 study demonstrated that more than 90% of the patients treated with Prophage Series G-200 were alive at six months after surgery and 30% were alive at twelve months.

17 Dec 2013

New regulation for cancer-causing protein may help develop targeted therapies

Researchers with the Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) and the University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute have discovered a new regulation for the cancer-causing protein KRas which may help with the development of targeted therapies for patients with a KRas mutation.

17 Dec 2013

Glioblastoma multiforme patients treated with experimental vaccine show improved survival

Patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme treated with an experimental vaccine made from the patient's own resected tumor tissue showed an improved survival compared with historical patients who received the standard of care alone, according to an analysis of a phase 2 trial of this vaccine that was recently published in the journal Neuro-Oncology and accompanied by an editorial highlighting the importance of the trial.

16 Dec 2013

Experimental drug that targets macrophages decreases cancer's growth

An experimental drug that targets macrophages, a type of immune cells, in the microenvironment surrounding the lethal brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme decreased the cancer's growth and extended survival of laboratory mice with the cancer, scientists will report on Tuesday Dec. 17, at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting in New Orleans.

16 Dec 2013

UTHealth professor wins Founders' Laurel Award for exceptional service in the field of medical education

Arthur L. Day, M.D., professor of neurosurgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a neurosurgeon at the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, has received one of the top honors awarded by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

14 Dec 2013

Study shows children with ALL can safely receive intravenous infusions of chemotherapy

Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of pediatric cancer, can safely receive intravenous infusions of a reformulated mainstay of chemotherapy that has been delivered via painful intramuscular injection for more than 40 years, research suggests.

11 Dec 2013

New form of gene therapy shows promising outcomes for "bubble boy" disease

Researchers reported promising outcomes data for the first group of boys with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID-X1), a fatal genetic immunodeficiency also known as "bubble boy" disease, who were treated as part of an international clinical study of a new form of gene therapy. The mechanism used to deliver the gene therapy is designed to prevent the serious complication of leukemia that arose a decade ago in a similar trial in Europe, when one-quarter of boys treated developed the blood cancer.

9 Dec 2013

Researchers identify mechanism implicated in brain cancer and drug that decreases brain tumor growth

Researchers at the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) have made a discovery that could lead to better treatment for patients suffering from brain cancer.

9 Dec 2013

Scientists recommend testing for Pearson syndrome in patients with congenital anemia

Some babies diagnosed with and treated for a bone marrow failure disorder, called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, may actually be affected by a very rare anemia syndrome that has a different disease course and treatment, say scientists from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

8 Dec 2013

PKM2 protein controls mitosis, saving cancer cells from death and promoting brain tumor growth

Researchers have caught a protein they previously implicated in a variety of cancer-promoting roles performing a vital function in cell division, survival and development of brain tumors.

8 Dec 2013

Researchers discover biological mechanism that allows brain tumor cells to escape from drugs

Researchers from UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a biological mechanism that allows brain tumor cells to escape from the drugs designed to target them, resulting in drug resistance. The study was published in the December 5, 2013 online issue of Science.

6 Dec 2013

Study reveals that brain cancer cells resist therapy by dialing down gene mutation targeted by drugs

A team of scientists, led by principal investigator Paul S. Mischel, MD, a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has found that brain cancer cells resist therapy by dialing down the gene mutation targeted by drugs, then re-amplify that growth-promoting mutation after therapy has stopped.

6 Dec 2013

Researchers use hyperthermia to treat patients with malignant glioma

Malignant glioma is very sensitive to heat. Prof. Yunlong Ge and team from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, China used a brain tumor hyperthermia apparatus to treat malignant glioma patients, and achieved good therapeutic efficacy.

3 Dec 2013

CRI researcher receives grant from DIPG to research on pediatric brain tumors

Javad Nazarian, PhD, a researcher with Children's Research Institute (CRI) at Children's National, is the recipient of a $99,979 grant from the DIPG Collaborative for his proposal entitled, "Comparative Proteomic and RNA Sequencing of DIPGs."

27 Nov 2013

Risk factors for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease has joined cancer at the top of the list of feared diagnoses, and although Alzheimer's does have the potential to devastate millions of patients and families, there are reasons for hope - and possibly opportunities to reduce risk or alter the course of disease progression, according to Keith Black, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai.

26 Nov 2013

Researchers identify new form of treatment for brain tumor

Glioblastoma is one of the most ominous brain tumors. Despite aggressive surgery, radiation and chemotherapy the outcome of this disease is almost always fatal.