Latest News

• IN8bio Presents Updated Phase I/II Data Demonstrating Meaningful and Durable Survival Improvements in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma        

  Good news from IN8bio! They recently announced positive trends from their Phase 1/2 trial of gamma-delta T cell therapy in newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Patients treated with repeated doses had a median progression-free survival of 13 months, nearly double that seen with standard of care. Median overall survival has not been reached, but it exceeds 17 months so far. Several treated patients remain progression-free beyond two years, and the therapy has been well tolerated, with no serious treatment-related toxicities reported. 

  
  
• GT Medical Technologies Announces First Patients Treated with GammaTile in the BRIDGES Trial for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma        

  GammaTile is a small implant placed in the brain at the time of resection surgery that delivers radiation right away instead of waiting weeks for standard post-surgery radiation. It was first cleared by the FDA in 2018 for both newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) and has been used in patients for several years. Now, GT Medical Technologies has started enrolling patients in the BRIDGES trial, a large randomized study to see whether GammaTile helps people with newly diagnosed GBM live longer compared with the current standard of care radiation. 

  
  
• Researchers Discover PGBD5 Guides Normal Brain Development in Addition to Causing Cancers        

  Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering found that PGBD5, a gene known to drive pediatric brain cancers by cutting and rearranging DNA, also plays an essential role in normal brain development. The study shows that PGBD5 deliberately creates DNA breaks in developing neurons that are precisely repaired to support proper neuron formation and function. This makes PGBD5 a rare “double-edged” gene whose beneficial developmental role can, when misregulated, lead to childhood cancers and neurodevelopmental disorders.

  This important finding will hopefully lead to future development of therapies that can block PGBD5’s cancer-causing activity while preserving its normal role in brain development, potentially leading to safer treatments for pediatric brain tumors.

  
  
• Digital Twin Maps Tumor Metabolism to Guide Brain Cancer Treatment        

  Researchers at the University of Michigan developed a machine-learning based “digital twin” program that maps how individual brain tumors use nutrients. Published in Cell Metabolism, the approach integrates patient blood data, tumor genetics, and limited metabolic measurements taken during surgery, including isotope tracing, to predict tumor-specific metabolic dependencies. Some tumors rely on particular amino acids or pathways and may be slowed by dietary changes or drugs, while others can bypass these restrictions.

  The researchers validated the model using data from glioma patients who received labeled glucose during surgery and confirmed predictions in mouse models. The digital twin accurately identified which tumors would respond to the drug mycophenolate mofetil, while also distinguishing tumors that could evade the drug by using alternative “salvage” pathways to obtain DNA-building materials.

  This is exciting work, and we hope to see further development and validation!