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This targets Oligo2, which sounds like it might be a great target
This is a very rare, but very serious, side effect of checkpoint inhibitors. Although it is only 1 patient, keep this in mind if you hear of this side effect.
I was asked for my opinion on what I would do if I had a newly diagnosed gbm.. here is my response. We can discuss it in our online forum: https://forum.virtualtrials.org/forum/main-forum
Very interesting study. It says that starting radiation therapy earlier than we usual do actually is worse for the patient. The study was performed just by looking at billing records. I would like to see more research on this. Perhaps look at the reasons radiation was started earlier. Maybe those patients had a lot of residual tumor so they were rushed into radiation as there was less space for recurrence? Or had some other medical reasons.
All new trials should consider adding an Optune arm. Currently, a few interesting trials are not allowing patients to use Optune at the same time as the trial. I feel that is not ethical. Optune has been shown to more than double the 5 year survival rate for adult GBM. If you have to make a choice between trying Optune with a proven benefit and minimal side effects to trying an experimental therapy with no track record and inknown side effects, I would choose Optune. [Disclaimer: Novocure is a sponsor of the Musella Foundation]
This is one of my favorite new treatments. It is too early to tell how well it works, but it looks promising. Disclaimer: I am on the patient advisory board at the Brain Tumor Center at Duke (but have no financial involvement in this treatment)
I have heard excellent things about this camp
This was too small to tell if the treatment works, but it did prove that these cells can cross the blood brain barrier- which is a major step forward. CAR-T cell therapy is one of the most exciting new therapies available. Recently the first CAR-T cell therapy for leukemia was approved by the FDA, after trials showing very high long term remission rates after a single injection!
This is an excellent conference for patients and anyone interested in brain tumors.
Nice Newsweek article about my friend Matthew Zachary who created "Stupid Cancer" - an organization for young adults facing cancer.
Comparative Study of Adjuvant Temozolomide Six Cycles Versus Extended 12 Cycles in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Multiforme. 6 months of Temozolomide for newly diagnosed patients became the standard because the original trials specified 6 months. That was done to speed up the trials. They didn't try various lengths of time and picked the best. This study looks at using 6 vs 12 months or Temozolomide. It is a small study - so you have to be careful, but using the 12 months of temozolomide increased overall survival by over 50% but did triple the chances of having toxicity.
The "standard" dosage of Avastin for brain tumors was not determined by a trial. Other cancers used 10mg/kg. The original small trials for brain tumors used 5mg/kg because of a worry about causing bleeding in the brain - which didn't happen, and it worked well. Then when larger brain tumor trials started up they went with the standard 10mg/kg dose other cancers use. Some brain tumor doctors still use the 5mg/kg lower dose and feel it works as well or better with less side effects. This study goes a step further and says less than 3mg may work as well or better with much less side effects. May be worth considering. They had a big increase in survival but there weren't enough patients to say that is significant statistically
Extent of resection and Carmustine wafer implantation safely improve survival in patients with a newly diagnosed glioblastoma: a single center experience of the current practice. Gliadel wafer is a biodegradable implant that slowly releases chemotherapy at the tumor site. It was approved on 1995 and it's popularity has waned. One of the main reasons is that many clinical trials said that using Gliadel wafer makes you ineligible for the trials. Some major brain tumor centers use this routinely on everyone who has a glioblastoma surgery, and others almost never use it. It is worth asking your surgeon about. This report shows that it is associated with longer progression free survival and overall survival.
One less thing to worry about!
If you are thinking about applying to our copay program, send in the paperwork as soon as possible!
This is a shame. There were long term survivors from the trials, and there were basically no side effects. Even if it helps 20% of the people, it is worth using. I hope they find a way to continue.
They are talking about the combination of Tarceva and Thalidomide. Looks good in the lab but needs to be tested in people. Both parts are approved for other diseases so they should be easy to get. I checked our virtual trial results. We had 2 glioblastoma patients who reported using that combination. (and 2 patients with other tumor types) . One died after 24 months, the other is alive at over 10 years. That is good - but you can not go by just 2 patients. If you try the combination, please join the virtual trial first so we can track it.
This is an important trial. In the phase 2 trial, on newly diagnosed GBM patients who only had biopsies - not subtotal resection or complete resection, they had "in patients with inoperable tumors, who demonstrated a 380 percent increase in survival at two years."
This is so important that I am including it in my presentation to the FDA next week as an example of a drug that needs to be approved quickly!
It is way too early to declare success but I love to see they are working on it.
