What '60 Minutes' Still Isn't Saying About The 'Miracle' Glioblastoma Drug This is the counter point to the 60 Minutes story on the polio vaccine for glioblastomas. She has a few good points. It is way too early to say this is a miracle cure. However, I think it has the potential to be a big step forward. Contrary to what this reporter says, I do think that IF it works for GBMs, it is very likely that it will work for most other types of cancer. There wasn't enough time to talk about it on the show but I was at Duke a few weeks ago where it was discussed at length and they discussed how they tested the other types of cancer in the test tube and animal models, and it is the same mechanism of action. In the GBM trial, there were some deaths relating to increased swelling in the brain as the immune system kicked into high gear. That causes a problem because in the head, the skull has a limited volume and can not expand, so swelling causes a rise in the intracranial pressure which causes all sorts of problems. We do not have that problem in the rest of the body- swelling can be accommodated easily. So it may work better outside the brain. We are lucky they are working on the brain first.
Walking for charity A big thank you to the students (and teachers) of the Middlebrook School in Wilton, CT. Great job!
Histone mutation linked to fatal pediatric brain tumor Very important research! Finding a single point mutation that may be responsible for DIPG and other types of cancer is amazing because it presents a target that can be attacked.
The 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System: a summary There is a new classification of brain tumors! This will allow better comparisons among patients. For example, glioblastoma is now separated into IDH mutant and IDH wild type glioblastomas. In some studies, the difference in survival between these 2 groups is actually more than the difference that the treatment being studied makes.
Focused Ultrasound Enhances Central Nervous System Delivery of Bevacizumab for Malignant Glioma Treatment. I thought that Avastin crossed the blood brain barrier but this experiment, in mice, shows that opening up the blood brain barrier using a relatively simple application of focused ultrasound leads to vastly improved outcomes and much higher concentration of Avastin in the brain. There is a trial in humans now of administering Avastin via intra-arterial infusion directly into the tumor. We do not have the results yet, but this experiment gives hope that the principle of increasing the dosage to the tumor may work in people!
