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.

Griffin Securities' report features stem cell hypothesis of cancer

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has been featured in an in-depth report by Griffin Securities, a New York-based brokerage firm, highlighting the importance of the role that cancer stem cell (CSCs) targeting technology such as that employed by its lead product candidate, ICT-121, may play in developing future cancer treatments.

18 Sep 2009

Celldex commences dosing patients in Phase 1/2 study of its CDX-1401 vaccine candidate

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDX) today announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 1/2 study of its vaccine candidate, CDX-1401, in patients with malignant solid tumors that express NY-ESO-1. CDX-1401 is a fully human monoclonal antibody designed to selectively deliver the NY-ESO-1 antigen to dendritic cells to generate a robust immune response against cancer cells expressing NY-ESO-1.

14 Sep 2009

Abstracts on Merck Serono oncology treatments to be presented at ECCO and ESMO

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, continues to drive the global effort to ensure patients receive personalized cancer therapies. A total of 17 abstracts concerning Merck Serono oncology treatments will be presented at the joint 15th Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) and 34th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), to be held in Berlin from 20-24 September 2009.

11 Sep 2009

Vitro Diagnostics' novel stem cell technology for cancer treatment

Vitro Diagnostics, Inc., dba Vitro Biopharma, announced advances in its adult stem cell products and technology with application to cell-based therapy of cancer. With the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy from brain cancer, we are reminded of such aggressive cancers without effective treatment.

10 Sep 2009

Nanobio hybrids for brain cancer therapy

In an advance toward better treatments for the most serious form of brain cancer, scientists in Illinois are reporting development of the first nanoparticles that seek out and destroy brain cancer cells without damaging nearby healthy cells. The study is scheduled for the Sept. 9 issue of ACS' Nano Letters, a monthly journal.

10 Sep 2009

First-quarter fiscal 2010 results announced by Peregrine Pharmaceuticals

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPHM) today announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2010 ended July 31, 2009. Total revenues for the first quarter of FY 2010 increased 345% to $6,750,000, compared to $1,517,000 for the comparable prior year quarter. This increase was primarily generated from increased government contract revenue and from increased sales by Avid Bioservices, the company's wholly owned contract manufacturing subsidiary.

3 Sep 2009

Interim Phase II data of Cotara reveals signs of efficacy in GBM patients

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported that clinical investigators are presenting interim Phase II data showing that its brain cancer agent Cotara(R) appeared well tolerated and demonstrated encouraging signs of efficacy in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the deadliest form of brain cancer.

3 Sep 2009

Avastin increases survival rates in recurrent glioblastoma affected patients

The targeted therapy Avastin, alone and in combination with the chemotherapy drug CPT-11, significantly increased response rates, progression-free survival times and survival rates in patients with a deadly form of brain cancer that had recurred.

3 Sep 2009

Vitro Diagnostics develops technology and products for cell-based cancer therapy

Vitro Diagnostics, Inc. (OTCBB: VODG), dba Vitro Biopharma, announced advances in its adult stem cell products and technology with application to cell-based therapy of cancer. With the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy from brain cancer, we are reminded of such aggressive cancers without effective treatment.

2 Sep 2009

JAMA study reveals the genetic signature of brain cancer

A pair of studies in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) spell out how much closer science has come to unraveling the genetic signature of brain cancer, according to a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UAB Division of Hematology and Oncology, believes these studies represent a new vanguard in the still-changing field of DNA analysis.

2 Sep 2009

Heidelberg neuropathologists detect astrocytomas that can deactivate the "death receptor"

Malignant brain tumors often fail to respond to promising new medication. Researchers in Heidelberg have discovered a mechanism and a tumor marker for the development of this resistance. A "death receptor" can possibly provide information as to how great the chances of success are for chemotherapy. At the same time, it offers a new approach for promising brain tumor therapy.

2 Sep 2009

Altered gene network interaction plays an important role in brain tumors

The interaction between a network of altered genes appears to play an important role in the development and progression of brain tumors, according to a study in the July 15 issue of JAMA.

1 Sep 2009

Arno Therapeutics to commence Phase 1 clinical study of AR-12 in adult patients with lymphoma

Arno Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology therapeutics, today announced the dosing of the first patient in a Phase I clinical study of AR-12 (formerly OSU-03012) in adult patients with advanced or recurrent solid tumors or lymphoma.

28 Aug 2009

More than 22,000 Americans expected to be diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2009

It is expected that more than 22,000 Americans will be diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2009. Senator Ted Kennedy's death from a brain cancer draws attention to a rare, but often fatal type disease. While the risk of developing brain cancer is relatively low, it is important to heed the warning signs and receive an accurate diagnosis.

27 Aug 2009

Discovery of key factor that stimulates brain cancer cells to spread

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that the activity of a protein in brain cells helps stimulate the spread of an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). In a move toward therapy, the researchers showed that a small designer protein can block this activity and reduce the spreading of GBM cells grown in the laboratory.

19 Aug 2009

Genentech announces Phase III study results for Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with chemo in HER2-negative breast cancer

Genentech, Inc. today announced that a Phase III study (RIBBON 2) of Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with chemotherapy increased the time women with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer whose initial chemotherapy had stopped working lived without the disease worsening (progression-free survival or PFS), compared to chemotherapy alone.

18 Aug 2009

Antigenics’ Oncophage cancer vaccine trial starts enrolling patients

Antigenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) today announced that the Brain Tumor Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, has begun enrolling patients into a Phase 2 clinical trial of Oncophage (vitespen) in combination with the standard of care - radiation therapy plus Temodar (temozolomide) - for newly diagnosed glioma patients.

13 Aug 2009

Anti-psychotic drugs could help treat some major cancers

The observation that people taking medication for schizophrenia have lower cancer rates than other people has prompted new research revealing that anti-psychotic drugs could help treat some major cancers.

12 Aug 2009

Potential new treatment for drug resistant brain tumors

Dr. Karen Newell, Ph. D., the lead researcher for bio technology company Viral Genetics (Pink Sheets: VRAL), will address the 4th Annual Aspen Symposium on Brain Tumor Immuno- and Stem Cell Therapy. Her presentation will highlight the potential for combining chemotherapy with compounds that interfere with the ability of brain tumor cells to generate the energy needed to repair chemotherapy induced DNA damage.

12 Aug 2009

STAT3 is required for proliferation and maintenance of multipotency in glioblastoma stem cells

In a study published online in advance of print in Stem Cells, Tufts researchers report that the STAT3 gene regulates cancer stem cells in brain cancer. Cancer stem cells have many characteristics of stem cells and are thought to be the cells that drive tumor formation. The researchers report that STAT3 could become a target for cancer therapy, specifically in Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a type of malignant and aggressive brain tumor.

11 Aug 2009