Latest News

• We are having a webinar this Wednesday, March 13 at 7pm EST (6pm CST) on Gallium Maltolate!        

   Participation is free and easy - no pre-registration required. Just go to virtualtrials.org/webinar a few minutes before the event!

  
  
• ONC201 (Dordaviprone) in Recurrent H3 K27M- Mutant Diffuse Midline Glioma        

   This paper summarizes the four clinical trials and the expanded access programs for Onc-201 in recurrent diffuse midline glioma.  Onc-201 has a new brand name - it is now called dordaviprone.   When used by itself, about 40% of the patients had the tumors stable or shrink, with a median survival of about 13.7 months from the time of starting Onc-201. There was no control group, but the median survival for this tumor type is only 12 months from diagnosis. These patients all had recurrent disease and were on average 10.9 months from diagnosis when starting Onc-201. Bottom line is these results are good, possibly the best ever reported so far in this disease, but of course not good enough. We need to get this drug approved so it can be used in creative combinations to improve these numbers.

  
  
• Phase 1 Car T cell trial shows promising results in high grade glioma        

  Good results from a large Phase 1 trial for IL13Rα2-targeting CAR T cell therapy. This trial enrolled heavily pre-treated recurrent high-grade glioma patients. Most were GBM and ~75% were at second recurrence or more. Half of the patients (29/58) achieved stable disease for at least 2 months, and there were a few partial and complete responses. The study cohort who received the maximum dose had the best median OS at 10.2 months. 

  
  
• New NIH Phase 1/2 clinical trial on Zotiraciclib for recurrent IDH-mutant gliomas        

   Zotiraciclib is a multi-kinase inhibitor that can be taken orally. A previous Phase 1 study showed zotiraciclib may be effective in people with recurrent gliomas containing mutations in the IDH1 or IDH2 genes. I like this trial because there is no placebo group; the trial team will use a matched external control group instead. 

  
  
• Berberine as a potential enhancer for 5-ALA-mediated fluorescence in glioblastoma: increasing detectability of infiltrating glioma stem cells to optimize 5-ALA-guided surgery        

   Very exciting.  Berberine is an easily available oral supplement.  In the lab, it greatly enhances the ability of 5-ALA to light up tumor cells, especially the glioma stem cells.   The article mentions how important that is when surgically removing the tumors, but another use that should be investigated is the use during sonodynamic therapy.    If this works in people (the article is from lab tests), it might be part of  a major breakthrough when used at surgery to remove more of the tumor then with sonodynamic therapy to mop up those remaining cells!

  
  
• International war correspondent reflects on glioblastoma diagnosis in his memoir        

   Rod Norland is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He has covered conflict zones in over 150 countries, and he was diagnosed with GBM in 2019. His new memoir, Waiting for the Monsoon, shares his experiences both with war and with brain cancer.

  
  
• Factors associated with longer survival among older Medicare patients after diagnosis of supratentorial primary brain malignancies: a retrospective cohort study        

  They looked at their database and found that these drugs: metformin, beta-blockers, ACE Inhibitors, and angiotensin receptor blockers as well as having Parkinson's disease, are all correlated with a longer survival period for elderly patients with Glioblastoma!  And these are significant gains!

  
  
• ADVANCED MRI BIOMARKERS PREDICT EARLY RESPONSE TO TUMOR TREATING FIELDS IN GLIOBLASTOMA        

   The technique they use - which is called fractional tumor burden (FTB) mapping, can help differentiate between treatment effects, swelling, necrosis and true progression, and can quantify the volume of the tumor better so you can more accurately tell if a treatment is working or not.
  Here, they apply the technique to monitor glioblastoma patients who use Optune.  They couldn't tell in the first 2 months if Optune was working, but by month 3,4 and 5, they could predict if it was working or not, even though a standard MRI at the 3 month mark is expected to show pseudoprogression when Optune is working - which sometimes causes patients to stop the therapy prematurely even though it was helping. This could be a game-changer and should be consider for all treatments, not just Optune.

  
  
• Tumor-Treating Fields Dosimetry in Glioblastoma: Insights into Treatment Planning, Optimization, and Dose-Response Relationships        

   Multiple studies on TTFields have shown a correlation between clinical outcomes and time on treatment. This new paper explores a number of factors impacting TTFields dosimetry, which also has important implications for efficacy.