Moving Medicine Forward:
Breakthroughs in Research This is a MUST SEE video of Dr Keith Black discussing his vaccine for Glioblastomas, and also mentioned the possibility of eventually using it with patient who have low grade gliomas to prevent them from transforming into high grade gliomas. Very exciting stuff... Disclaimer: Dr Black is on our medical advisory board and is an old friend. Although the Musella Foundation has funded the early work on this project (as well as funding the early work on one of the receptors used as a target), we have no financial interest in the outcome. We just want to see it succeed!
This article shows that when the surgeon thinks he/she "removed the entire tumor", he is wrong about 70% of the time. This shows the need for the approval of the dye that lets the surgeon tell where the tumor is when operating, and also for more hospitals to get intra-operative imaging tools like MRI or ultrasound that can help them tell where the tumor is.
Note that in many cases it is not possible to remove all of the tumor – the risk of neurological damage is too high, but the surgeon should know exactly how much of the tumor is being left behind. These tools can help.
Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers ID1 is an interesting target for brain tumor (as well as many other types of cancer) treatments. It has been linked to invasion, growth and spread of tumors. It was found that Nicotine (from cigarette smoke) drastically increases the amount of ID1 in the body - which may be one of the links between smoking and cancers. These researchers may have found a non toxic drug that inhibits ID1, which may stop the growth of tumors. They have not done a human trial yet, but we will be watching for one!
