A novel ligand delivery system to non-invasively visualize and therapeutically exploit the IL13R?2 tumor-restricted biomarker. This is one of my favorite targets for brain tumor treatments. The Musella Foundation has awarded 3 grants to the development of this system. IL-13 is found on most brain tumor cells. Previous attempts to target this receptor had only limited success, because it is also found on normal brain as well as other organs. This researcher found a way to create a protien that binds only to the tumor associatd form of the receptor and not the naturally occuring one. Net result is it only attaches to tumors and not normal brain. They are trying various ways of using thie targetting system. In this article, they discuss using it as an imaging agent - so we can see WHERE the tumor is - especially in cases where a regular MRI isn't helpfull as well as attaching a radioactive molecule to it to bring the radiation to the tumor cells. <br><br>
Not only can it target brain cancer, but it may also be useful for: Prostate, Melanoma, Lung, Colon Cancer, Ovarian Cancer and some Breast cancers. We have been trying to raise money for a human trial of this targeting system attached to a toxin.
Phase I/II study of oral erlotinib for treatment of relapsed/refractory glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma. Unfortunately, this trial shows that oral erlotinib (Tarceva) - an EGFR inhibitor - used by itself for recurrent gbms and anaplastic astrocytomas doesn't work well. Progression free survival was only 1.9 months. Keep in mind that this only applies to oral use - which may mean not enough of the drug is getting to the tumor, and using it by itself.. it is possible that using it in other ways with other treatments may help.
The impact of repeated surgery and adjuvant therapy on survival for patients with recurrent glioblastoma. This study shows that surgery alone for a recurrence of a GBM is not that useful: it adds on average 1 month to survival (compared to the group that had no treatments), and almost half of the patients had major complications from the surgery.
However, combining surgery with chemotherapy gave the best outcome, adding 9 months on average - while chemo alone added only 3 months.
This is a small study and apparently wasn't randomized - so we don't know if perhaps people who were in better shape got to get both surgery and chemotherapy, and the patients who were in worse shape got no treatment - which would completely invalidate the results. However, it makes sense that combining the treatments would give the best outcome. Perhaps adding more of the available treatments, like immunotherapy and tumor treating fields would yield even better results.
