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.

Vaccine improves survival of glioblastoma patients in phase II clinical trial: Researchers

A vaccine that turns the immune system against brain tumor cells bearing a genetic mutation that drives the most aggressive form of glioblastoma multiforme improved survival of patients in a phase II clinical trial, researchers at Duke University and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

7 Oct 2010

Lixte, NCI collaborate for clinical evaluation of LB-100 compound

Lixte Biotechnology Holdings announced today that the National Cancer Institute Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) Program Senior Advisory Committee (SAC), Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), signed a NExT Material Transfer Agreement formalizing a collaboration with Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. for clinical evaluation of LB-100, one of Lixte's lead anti-cancer compounds.

6 Oct 2010

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics to present ICT-107 clinical data at World Stem Cell Summit

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, today announced that the company's clinical data from ICT-107 will be featured in two oral sessions at the World Stem Cell Summit, which is being held October 4-6 in Detroit, MI.

5 Oct 2010

Merck Serono to present Erbitux data at ESMO Congress

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany announces today that it will be presenting new data from several studies of Erbitux (cetuximab) in a range of solid tumor types including the first Phase II data in breast and prostate cancers. These data will be presented at the forthcoming 35th European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO) in Milan, October 8-12, 2010.

5 Oct 2010

PDGFR gene rearrangements lead to aggressive form of glioblastoma: Study

4 Oct 2010

Activating rearrangements in receptor genes are more common than previously thought

A multi-institutional team led by investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has published a study that provides new insight into genetic changes that make some forms of glioblastoma, the most common type of primary brain cancer, more aggressive than others and explains why they may not respond to certain therapies. The research was led by senior author Eric C. Holland, MD, PhD,--an MSKCC surgeon, researcher and the Director of the Brain Tumor Center--and was published in the October 1 issue of the journal Genes & Development.

1 Oct 2010

Pulmokine receives NIH SBIR grants to develop novel treatments for PAH

YM BioSciences Inc., today reported that Pulmokine Inc. (Slingerlands, New York), a licensee of several small molecule compounds from YM, has been awarded two National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. The grants, totaling more than US$650,000, are Phase I awards to develop novel treatments for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH).

29 Sep 2010

Cancer-causing mutations have minimum effect on tumor growth: Research

Individual cancer causing mutations have a minute effect on tumor growth, increasing the rate of cell division by just 0.4 percent on average, according to new mathematical modeling by scientists at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and other institutions.

29 Sep 2010

JAMA issue unveils 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).

27 Sep 2010

Gene alteration impacts brain tumor development: Study

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.

27 Sep 2010

Revolutionary technology 'cooks' brain tumor

University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center is offering new hope for patients with inoperable brain tumors or lesions previously diagnosed as untreatable through a revolutionary technology called AutoLITT which "cooks" brain tumors with an MRI-guided laser. UH becomes one of only three medical centers in the world offering AutoLITT as part of its arsenal in the fight against cancer. It is especially effective in treating glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain cancers.

23 Sep 2010

immatics raises EUR53.8million in Series C financing round

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer, announced today that it has raised EUR53.8million in a Series C financing round. The new funds will allow the Company to finance the ongoing development of immatics' existing pipeline of advanced therapeutic cancer vaccine candidates.

21 Sep 2010

Scientists discover new drug target to improve radiation effectiveness for treating cancer

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered a new drug target that could improve the effectiveness of radiation for hard-to-treat cancers.

17 Sep 2010

Researcher discover enzyme for brain tumor malignancy

Tom Wurdinger, a Dutch researcher who is connected to Harvard (Boston) and the VUmc Cancer Center in Amsterdam, has discovered the enzyme playing a very important role in the return of malign brain tumor after surgery and radiation. By making this enzyme inactive, the cancer cell can become disorganized and blow itself up.

17 Sep 2010

ImmunoCellular contracts with Averionto to execution ICT-107 cancer-vaccine Phase II study

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, today announced that it has contracted with the clinical research organization (CRO) Averion International Corp. to conduct its planned Phase II study of ICT-107, the Company's lead cancer-vaccine candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

17 Sep 2010

Arno Therapeutics closes private placement to advance cancer treatment

Arno Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing oncology therapeutics, today announced that it has closed a private placement of its securities resulting in gross proceeds to the company of over $15 million.

14 Sep 2010

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics announces long-term data from ICT-107 Phase I clinical trial for GBM

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, today announced long-term data from a Phase I clinical trial of ICT-107, the Company's lead cancer vaccine candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer.

9 Sep 2010

Positive results from YM BioSciences' CYT997 Phase I study for vascular disruption in tumors

YM BioSciences Inc., today announced the publication of Phase I results demonstrating that CYT997, a novel vascular disrupting agent (VDA), was well tolerated at doses that were associated with pharmacodynamic evidence of vascular disruption in tumors. The article entitled "Phase I trial of CYT997, a novel cytotoxic and vascular-disrupting agent," was published in the premier cancer journal, the British Journal of Cancer.

8 Sep 2010

Researchers develop new RNA molecule approach to kill cancer cells

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have engineered a fundamentally new approach to killing cancer cells. The process developed by Niles Pierce, associate professor of applied and computational mathematics and bioengineering at Caltech, and his colleagues uses small RNA molecules that can be programmed to attack only specific cancer cells then, by changing shape, those molecules cause the cancer cells to self destruct.

8 Sep 2010

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics updates accomplishments in Letter to Shareholders

As the summer comes to a close, I wanted to update you on the Company's accomplishments this year, which set the stage for an exciting fall. The first eight months of the year have been very successful, with the Company attaining many of its goals, despite a very difficult economic environment, which has created challenges for many small biotechnology companies. Today, IMUC is in its best financial position ever and well positioned to validate the success it achieved in a Phase I trial for ICT-107, its dendritic cell-based cancer vaccine product candidate.

3 Sep 2010