M. D. Anderson Cancer
Center Makes Advances in Treatment of Gloioblastoma Brain Tumors
Including Drugs and Proton Therapy
May 9th 2006
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Proton Therapy
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There are some promising new treatments for glioblastoma, the most
common and deadly of brain tumors, according to the M.D. Anderson Cancer
Center in Texas. The researchers at the University of Texas M. D.
Anderson Cancer Center believe they are poised on the brink of a new
era, and that glioblastoma is finally giving up some secrets.
The report says that the researchers have found a new chemotherapy drug
that works best in patients who have no expression of a specific genetic
alteration. The researchers are investigating 20,000 genes and proteins
that may play a role in brain tumor development.
Another amazing development includes a vaccine that tricks the immune
system into attacking a protein found on glioblastoma cells. They have
designed a virus to spread rapidly through the extended fingers of the
brain tumor, killing the cancer while leaving the normal tissue in tact.
They plan to open a clinical trial soon on this vaccine.
Another experimental approach being considered involves a chemotherapy
drug that can seep through the brain-blood barrier and latch on to the
tumor cells. The researchers at the M. D. Anderson center are also
refining current brain tumor therapies with next generation technology.
One area involves a proton synchrotron particle accelerator that will be
online in 2006. This treatment will offer the most “precise radiation
therapy available, as will a new suite of neurosurgical devices
featuring real-time imaging that surgeons can use to navigate inside the
brain.”
The doctors at the Brain Tumor center are hopeful but realistic. They
say that even the finest surgery, medical and radiation treatments are
not enough. Next-generation drugs must be developed to change the
forecast for most glioblastoma patients.
They hope to design and disarm the numerous pathways brain tumors use to
thrive. Dr. Raymond Sawaya says "There will be no magic bullet to treat
brain cancer. The answer is not going to come from one approach. We have
to test and prefect many different avenues for treatment, and hit the
right combination of multiple drugs and therapies that works best for
each individual patient."
Professor and chair of the Department of Neuro-oncology, W. K. Alfred
Yung, M.D, says “We are just now on the cusp of understanding much more
about the molecular biology of the disease. What we are learning right
now can only improve our ability to treat each tumor, and each patient."
By Dan Wilson
Best Syndication
Books on Cancer
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