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This is an important project to try a new approach to treating these horrific tumors!
This shows the importance of the timing and sequencing of treatments - and how we can not rely on just test tube results.
ASCO is one of the 2 biggest brain tumor conferences of the year (SNO is the other one), Here we have 2 of the superstars of the brain tumor world giving their thoughts on the most important abstracts from ASCO!
I never heard of this before. Very exciting if it is true. I would love to see other scientists repeat this and figure out how important this is. It may open an entire new way to fight cancer!
We had some technical problems again last night with the Facebook feed... sorry about that. The edited version we posted is complete (the editing was just trim the dead space and add an opening and closing title.)
Last night was great - we learned about a new system that lets the doctor look at the pathology slides and see what is tumor and not tumor during the surgery to check margins and make sure they got as much of the tumor out as possible.
Our next webinar is also special - Dr Bota is working on an advanced type of vaccine that looks good in early testing.
Dr Orringer invented a new way for the surgeon to tell the difference between normal brain tissue and tumor tissue as well as what grade of tumor it, quickly while still in the surgery. He also specializes in brain mapping and tumors of the speech and movement areas of the brain. He is involved in several brain tumor clinical trials. Should be a very interesting webinar!
This study shows that using Opdivo by itself doesn't work well in recurrent glioblastoma. My thoughts are that something else is needed to trigger the immune response, then Opdivo can enhance that response. It might be something as simple as Optune - by killing cells, neoantigens are released and the immune system gets primed. Opdivo could theoretically enhance that immune response. Or a vaccine. Or more radiation. These things need to be tested further!
These events have been informative and fun. You can view past events on our website at virtualtrials.com/video.cfm
Join us live to be able to ask questions
Of course it is too early to tell if it will work but I love the idea of trying new ways to attack this problem!
Interesting concept - should work for any tumor that has p53 mutations! Hopefully human trials will start soon!
These webinars are very informative and give you the chance to learn new things, and to ask questions of experts in the field! Well worth going to the live events!
Our last event was about a new form of radiation in clinical trials that looks very promising. Anyone with a recurrent glioblastoma should at least ask their doctor about it.
Our next event is advances in neurosurgery!
This has been a great series so far - all of the lectures are in our video library (Go to virtualtrials.com and click INTERACT then VIDEO LIBRARY from any menu). It continues this Sunday night with a talk about a new form of radiation.
We just posted the video from our last webinar. Advances in neuro-imaging. This is one of the most important topics we ever covered. It is a new way to look at MRIs that enables you to tell if a treatment is working or not much sooner, and if the thing on your scan is tumor or pseudoprogression.
This is available NOW! Many major medical centers can do it but if your MRI center can not, there are companies that can do it as a service using the MRI files from your scans!
This will be the topic of our next Brain Tumor Awareness Month Webinar, this Sunday May 17, 2020 at 7pm eastern. Go to virtualtrials.com/webinar to participate! No advance registration required.
The topic is Rhenium-Labeled NanoLiposomes - a new way to deliver radiation therapy to the tumor! Should be very interesting!
Optune is finally available in China - 6 years after we had it here in the USA!
In China there are about 45,000 patients diagnosed per year with glioblastoma. That is more than double the number here in the USA.
The press release states: A large, global phase 3 pivotal clinical study in newly diagnosed glioblastoma showed adding Optune to chemotherapy more than doubled the five-year overall survival rate1
This one may apply to most people interested in brain tumors. MRIs are not as accurate as you think they are. Many times the doctors are not sure if what they see on the scan is new tumor growth or pseudoprogression - which are changes relating to radiation injuries and treatment effects. This doctor has a way to help tell the difference. It can also tell earlier if a treatment is working or not, so you have more time to change to a different treatment. Very important stuff.
This is a small randomized trial. and included grade 3 as well as grade 4 brain tumors but the results are very impressive, by adding an immune stimulant, (which is approved for skin cancer) which is applied topically. Reports median survival of 54 months compared to 11 months for placebo.
This company is working on a derivative of CBD oil that looks really promising in early testing.
We will try to simulcast it on Facebook, but it is better from our webinar ZOOM room - as it is easier to ask questions.
This is great news. It looked like Tocagen's phase 3 clinical trial failed so they stopped development of the drug. However, there were some stunning successes in earlier trials and even in the failed trial there were some cases that were deemed a success. However, the control group did a little better overall than the treatment group.
A new company purchased the drug and presumably will do further testing but this time targeted to those most likely to benefit from it!
