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This would be a huge breakthrough if it works. I love research like this and wish them well.
The first 2 webinars in the series went very well and you can view them at virtualtrials.com/video.cfm
The new edition will arrive sometime this week!
There are many ways to use the checkpoint inhibitors. This study shows that using Opdivo instead of Temodar during radiation for newly diagnosed is not helping. This doesn't mean the drug is bad - just that it isn't being used correctly. There are other trials going on that hopefully will show us how best to use this class of drug!
We need to fight this. I will provide details next week!
We have one this Sunday and Wednesday! Both have excellent speakers. Sunday is on Immunotherapies, Wednesday is on Onc-201 for DIPG and H3K27M mutant gliomas.
This is very early but it is an exciting new type of treatment for dipg. The Musella Foundation is part of the DIPG Collaborative and helped fund this project!
This may be the missing link in understanding how the immune system fights cancer and why checkpoint inhibitors do not allwas work. Excellent research and I hope someone tests this in brain tumors.
From our good friends at the End Brain Cancer Initiative, Should be interesting.
This is exciting for the drug Onc-201. The meeting is not for approval but for the FDA to learn about the drug and help guide the process to approval. This is not done for most drugs.
Dr Ashley will be speaking about immunotherapies and specifically the Polio Vaccine and CMV vaccines at Duke!
There is a desperate need for this. I wish them luck and will be watching closely. Dr Okada is on our medical advisory board and is one of the world experts on this topic.
We added another webinar to our lineup:
5/15/2019: WEDNESDAY Topic: Onc-201 for DIPG and H3K27M mutant gliomas!
Here is an updated list of the Optune Open Houses. These meetings are interesting and a lot of fun for everyone who has a brain tumor.
I am a fan of the CUSP 9 protocol. Might be worth considering adding it to whatever else your plan is.
This is a good opportunity to meet the experts and ask questions!
We may extend this year's series a few weeks if there is interest as there are lots of topics to cover!
We are trying to raise money for several very important projects. I have many brain tumor research grant applications sitting on my desk right now - we will use the proceeds from our walks to fund these projects.
This is a very technical article but basically it boils down to showing that there is a dose-response curve. The higher the dose the better the patient does. The dose is determined by the arrangement of the arrays around the tumor, as well as the average compliance time - which is the % of time the machine is turned on!
The differences in survival are pretty significant. The doctor has to determine the positioning of the arrays (and articles like this will help optimize that), but the patients can work on the second part: compliance. I find that most patients do not understand the importance of high compliance. The doctors usually say to try for about 70% compliance, but the evidence says if you can get to 90% or better, there is a big improvement. Unlike drugs which work for days or weeks after you take them, Optune stops working the second you turn the machine off - and starts again when you turn it on.
This article talks about leptomeningeal spread. (Which means the tumor spreads to the lining of the brain and spinal cord). The common wisdom used to be that once this happened, the outlook was terrible and it wasn't worth even trying to treat it. This article (and other experiences such as from MD Anderson (https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/cancerwise/new-hope-for-leptomeningeal-disease-care.h00-159144456.html) show that it IS worth trying to treat it, and the outlook is only about as bad as the usual recurrences that do not involve the meninges. Many clinical trials and even compassionate use programs exclude patients with leptomeningeal spread. They shouldn't.
Interesting article. They are correct that the D2R receptor family (also known as DRD2) is very important in many types of cancers, including brain tumors – especially in tumors of the midline and brainstem.
However, they are incorrect when they say there is no useful way to target this. The drug Onc201 is a very selective antagonist to DRD2 and is now in clinical trials for brain tumors. Although it is too early to tell how well it works, I have seen a few remarkable responses to it already. This article talks about trying to repurpose older drugs that are NOT selective.
Disclaimer: The Musella Foundation was an early supporter of Onc201 and we are involved in funding the compassionate use program for this treatment.
