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.

Discovery of novel mechanism controlling tumor growth in the brain

As survival rates among some patients with cancer continue to rise, so does the spread of these cancers to the brain - as much as 40 percent of all diagnosed brain cancers are considered metastatic, having spread from a primary cancer elsewhere in the body.

9 Jun 2009

Needle biopsies safe in 'eloquent' areas of brain

After a review of 284 cases, specialists at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute have concluded that performing a stereotactic needle biopsy in an area of the brain associated with language or other important functions carries no greater risk than a similar biopsy in a less critical area of the brain.

3 Jun 2009

Baucus: Obama open to taxing health benefits to pay for health reform

On the same day President Obama expressed the urgent need for health care reform, he also met with two dozen Senate Democrats and suggested that he is open to considering taxing employer-provided health benefits to pay for health care reform, The Washington Post reports.

3 Jun 2009

Glioblastoma may originate in neural stem cells

University of Michigan scientists have found that a deficiency in a key tumor suppressor gene in the brain leads to the most common type of adult brain cancer. The study, conducted in mice that mimic human cancer, points the way to more effective future treatments and a way to screen for the disease early.

1 Jun 2009

Genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk may be greatly underutilized

Although a test for gene mutations known to significantly increase the risk of hereditary breast or ovarian cancer has been available for more than a decade, a new study finds that few women with family histories of these cancers are even discussing genetic testing with their physicians or other health care providers.

22 May 2009

Computer model predicts how brain tumors grow and evolve

Researchers from Brown University and other institutions have developed a computational computer model of how brain tumors grow and evolve.

18 May 2009

FDA approves Avastin (bevacizumab) for treatment of glioblastoma multiforme

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Avastin (bevacizumab) to treat patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) when this form of brain cancer continues to progress following standard therapy.

7 May 2009

New drug restricts the growth of neuroblastoma

Researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found a new drug that restricts the growth of neuroblastoma, a childhood brain cancer.

23 Apr 2009

First noninvasive technique to accurately predict mutations in human brain tumors

Donald O'Rourke, MD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues, were able to accurately predict the specific genetic mutation that caused brain cancer in a group of patients studied using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

20 Apr 2009

Discovery of possible way to block the spread of deadly brain tumors

Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) may have found a way to stop the often-rapid spread of deadly brain tumors.

20 Apr 2009

Brain metastases hijack neuron-supporting cells to resist chemotherapy

Cancer that spreads to other organs finds a particularly inviting hideout in the brain, where these metastases are usually far harder to treat than they are in other locations.

20 Apr 2009

Nanoparticles combined with scorpion venom slow spread of brain cancer

By combining nanoparticles with a scorpion venom compound already being investigated for treating brain cancer, University of Washington researchers found they could cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98 percent, compared to 45 percent for the scorpion venom alone.

16 Apr 2009

Scientists show how gene alteration can lead to the development of a type of brain cancer

An international team of scientists from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, the University of North Carolina and several institutions in China have explained how a gene alteration can lead to the development of a type of brain cancer, and they have identified a compound that could staunch the cancer's growth.

14 Apr 2009