ScienceDaily (2008-02-27) -- A scientist shows that mind may indeed affect matter. After the surgical removal of a malignant tumor, the chance that cancer will re-appear in a different location of the body remains high. But new research in a bold new field called Psychoneuroimmunology, may prevent those cancer cells from taking root again -- and the key to the treatment is stress reduction.St
Isotope astatine-211 To Prolong Lives Of Brain Tumor Patients
Excerpt -
In a study to determine safe dosages of the isotope astatine-211 for treating patients with recurring brain tumors, researchers were pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the isotope's potency sufficient to kill residual cancer cells without damaging sensitive healthy brain cells, but the patients experienced longer survival rates.
"Astatine-211 has as much as five times or more cell-killing efficiency than the standard treatments of external beam radiation or beta-particle injection," said Michael R. Zalutsky, professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. The ability to deliver such a potent cancer killer without causing neurotoxicity (damage to the delicate neurological system that controls brain function) would be a tremendous step forward in combating this lethal disease, he said.
In the past, surgeons have been able to remove the tumor bulk, Zalutsky added, but were unable to see and thereby identify any residual cancerous cells that had escaped into the margins of the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. It is these cells, however, that continue to grow into new tumors and eventually kill the patient. Scientists have long believed that radioimmunotherapy (RIT) could be the best way to destroy these cells, but demonstrating the feasibility of delivering a sufficiently potent radioactive isotope without harming healthy brain tissue has been heretofore impossible.
Senate committee passes bill inspired by brain tumor patient
By Associated Press
2/21/2008 10:49 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A Senate committee has passed "Stephanie's Law," named for a young brain cancer patient whose family was hit by $400,000 in medical bills because a private insurance carrier stopped paying routine health care costs.
The bill requires insurance companies to pay for routine care such as doctor visits for patients taking part in clinical trials.
The Health and Human Resources Committee voted 5-2 for the measure after hearing an appeal from Monty Collings, father of 18-year-old Stephanie Collings.
After Stephanie went through a bone marrow procedure in a clinical trial, Collings' insurance company refused to pay routine bills for doctor's visits, blood tests and other procedures needed in her fight against cancer.
Sen. Andrew Rice, the bill's author, said it was a matter of fairness. He said Medicaid and Medicare patients can go through clinical trials and still have their routine care compensated.
Brain Tumor Gene Link Found
LONDON, Feb. 21, 2008--CANCER Research UK funded Scientists have discovered a mutation in a DNA repair gene which may increase the risk of developing meningioma, a rare type of brain tumor, according to new research published in the latest edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Tumor-killing Virus Selectively Targets Diseased Brain Cells
ScienceDaily (2008-02-19) -- New findings show that a specialized virus with the ability to reproduce its tumor-killing genes can selectively target tumors in the brains of mice and eliminate them. Healthy brain tissue remained virtually untouched. With more research, the technique could one day offer a novel way of treating brain cancer in humans.
Gene Therapy “Trains” Immune System to Destroy Brain Cancer Cells and Reverses Behavioral Deficits
Description
A new gene therapy approach that attracts and “trains” immune system cells to destroy deadly brain cancer cells also provides long-term immunity, produces no significant adverse effects and -- in the process of destroying the tumor -- promotes the return of normal brain function and behavioral skills, according to a study conducted by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Board of Governors Gene Therapeutics Research Institute.
Tumor-killing virus selectively targets diseased brain cells from PhysOrg.com
New findings show that a specialized virus with the ability to reproduce its tumor-killing genes can selectively target tumors in the brains of mice and eliminate them. Healthy brain tissue remained virtually untouched, according to a Feb. 20 report in The Journal of Neuroscience. With more research, the technique could one day offer a novel way of treating brain cancer in humans.
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Brain Tumor Vaccine Seeks Candidates
| | Created: 2/12/2008 6:31:07 PM Updated:2/12/2008 7:28:05 PM |
CLEVELAND -- University Hospitals Case Medical Center has opened a new brain tumor vaccine trial and candidates are needed.
Researchers in the Neurological Institute and Ireland Cancer Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center are in late-stage trials for an experimental vaccine for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive form of brain cancer.The new vaccine ? CDX-110 ? attempts to marshal the power of the patients? own immune system to fight against remnants of the tumor which typically remain in the brain following surgery and radiation treatment.
So far, the vaccine has been used to treat about 70 patients nationally with virtually no side-effects. Currently 14 patients have enrolled at UH, the only site in Ohio to have opened the study and one of 20 national sites.
At UH, the patients currently have had surgery and are now going through radiation treatment to shrink their tumors. They will then receive the vaccine to induce an immune response against the tumor.
According to UH neurosurgeon Andrew Sloan, M.D., early results, although not published, seem encouraging. Half of the patients receiving the vaccine have survived for more than 30 months after treatment.
?This is impressive considering that survival after standard treatment is less than a year. Even more impressive is the finding that 65 percent of patients treated with the vaccine were still alive after two years which is very rare for patients treated with conventional radiation and chemotherapy alone. In fact, several patients treated with the experimental vaccine have survived for more than three years,? said Dr. Sloan.
Normally, vaccines are used to prevent disease, but in this case, the vaccine is used to jump-start an immune response against an existing tumor.
The vaccine is designed to teach the body?s immune system to attack the tumor without attacking the normal brain cells. Another advantage of the vaccine compared to other experimental treatments is that there are few side-effects to vaccines.
Dr. Sloan, an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Case Western Reserve University with an NIH-funded grant to study the use of vaccines in brain tumors, said, ?This therapy has the potential to help not only patients suffering from this deadly disease, but if it lives up to its promise, it could potentially be used for other cancers as well.?
Glioblastoma is the most common form of adult brain cancer. It strikes more than 10,000 adults annually in the United States. It is highly malignant and the average survival is usually less than a year even after maximal surgical resection and radiation. Even the addition of a chemotherapy drug only adds an average of two months survival to patients? lives.
For more information or to enroll in the study call 216 844 6054.
Gene Plays “Jekyll and Hyde” in Brain Cancer
FINDINGS:
Researchers have found that a particular gene is central to the brain cancer glioblastoma and will either fight the tumor or, conversely, help the tumor advance, depending on the tumor’s genetic makeup.
RELEVANCE:
These findings are relevant for the emerging field of personalized medicine. Glioblastoma is a highly aggressive type of cancer for which treatments remain extremely limited. Researchers have long assumed that the gene in question, STAT3, only acts as a tumor inducer, and so have been developing therapeutics that inhibit STAT3. But if STAT3 actually fights tumors in a subset of these cancers, such therapies would do more harm than good. These results may change the way researchers approach not only glioblastoma but other types of cancers as well.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Azad Bonni, Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
http://www.hmcnet.harvard.edu/pathol/labs/bonni/index.html
Don’t Tell Prominent Duke Doctor that Cancer Can’t Be Cured
DURHAM — Dr. Henry Friedman, one of the world’s top researchers into brain tumors, scoffs at the idea that cancer isn’t curable. And Friedman’s work has been widely acknowledged, including two segments on the CBS program 60 Minutes.
“I believe you can be cured,” said Friedman, deputy director of the acclaimed Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. “The cancer may be in remission,” Friedman acknowledged, “but it can be in remission permanently.”
“I believe you can be cured,” said Friedman, deputy director of the acclaimed Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. “The cancer may be in remission,” Friedman acknowledged, “but it can be in remission permanently.”
Your Brain on Sugar
February 2008 | Healthy Living :: Body Talk
by Liz Barker
Not just a hazard to your teeth and waistline, slurping up too many sugary beverages may increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. To test the effects of sugar overload on the progression of Alzheimer’s (a condition linked to both obesity and diabetes), researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham fed a group of mice a diet that was 10 percent comprised of sugar water. After 25 weeks, the sugar-fed mice had gained about 17 percent more weight than mice that followed a regular, balanced diet. They also displayed poorer learning abilities and memory retention, and their brains contained more than twice as many amyloid plaque deposits (a hallmark of Alzheimer’s).The human equivalent of the study’s mouse diet would be about five cans of soda per day, the study’s authors note. But since mice have a higher metabolism, they add, less sugar intake could have a similar impact in humans.
Protein in Common Virus Linked to Aggressive Brain Tumors
| Source: California Pacific Medical Center | Released: Wed 30-Jan-2008, 13:40 ET Embargo expired: Fri 01-Feb-2008, 00:05 ET |
| Libraries Medical News | Keywords VIRUS, BRAIN TUMORS, CYTOMEGALOVIRUS, CMV, PROTEIN, RESEARCH, CANCER, TREATMENT, ANTI-VIRAL, CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER, | |
Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only | ||
Description A protein found in the common human virus cytomegalovirus (CMV) appears to be a key factor in making brain tumors more aggressive and faster spreading. This opens the door to the possibility of treating the malignant brain tumors with antiviral drugs, simple oral medications that could dramatically help patients fight off a previously fatal cancer. | ||
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Newswise — A protein found in the common human virus cytomegalovirus (CMV) appears to be a key factor in making brain tumors more aggressive and faster spreading. That’s the finding of a new study in the journal Cancer Research.
The researchers, from the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, say the protein known as IE1 plays a number of roles, modifying brain cancer cells in a way that makes them grow more rapidly, and confirming a potential role for CMV in the malignant process of this cancer.
“IE1 delivers a one-two punch to tumor cells. We detect the CMV IE1 protein in nearly all malignant brain tumors, and we find that it can make tumor cells more aggressive by affecting two major pathways,” says Charles Cobbs, M.D, the lead author of the study. “First, it inhibits two key tumor suppressor proteins in the brain tumor cells; then it promotes the most important growth signaling pathway in the tumor itself. By modulating these cellular pathways, this viral protein makes the tumor cells more aggressive.”
Dr. Cobbs first made the discovery that CMV was associated with malignant brain tumors in 2002. Now, by identifying the mechanism that helps CMV fuel tumors, the researchers say it could speed up the search for new treatments.
“This opens up the door to the possibility of treating the malignant brain tumors with an antiviral drug, a simple oral medication that could dramatically help patients fight off a previously fatal cancer” says Liliana Soroceanu, Ph.D., M.D., a co-author of the study.
High grade glioma tumors are the most common form of brain cancer. They are difficult to treat because surgical cure is not an option, and radiation and chemotherapy have only limited success against them. As a result the tumors are typically fatal within a year, claiming some 20,000 lives in the U.S. every year.
CMV is a common virus, causing a persistent infection in 50- 80 percent of all Americans. Because it often produces few symptoms most people are unaware they are infected. In normal, healthy individuals CMV poses few risks, but it can pose serious health problems for people with compromised immune systems such as people with HIV/AIDS, organ transplant recipients, and pregnant women and their fetus.
California Pacific Medical Center. Beyond Medicine.
At San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center, we believe in the power of medicine. We research the most up-to-date treatments, hire the most qualified individuals, and practice the most modern, innovative medicine available. We deliver the highest quality expert care, with kindness and compassion, in acute, post-acute and outpatient services, as well as preventive and complementary medicine. But we also believe that medicine alone is only part of the solution. That’s why we look intently at each individual case and treat the whole person, not just the illness. It’s why we go beyond medical care and provide our patients with things like disease counseling, family support and wellness treatments. As one of California’s largest private, community-based, not-for-profit, teaching medical centers, and a Sutter Health affiliate, we are able to reach deep into our community to provide education, screening and financial support in some of the city’s most underserved neighborhoods. Because medicine can transform a body. But going beyond medicine can transform a life. http://www.cpmc.org
Treatment Capitalizes On Unique Qualities Of Radioisotope To Prolong Lives Of Brain Tumor Patients
ScienceDaily (2008-01-30) -- In a study to determine safe dosages of the isotope astatine-211 for patients with recurring brain tumors, researchers were pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the isotope's potency sufficient to kill residual cancer cells without damaging sensitive healthy brain cells, but the patients experienced longer survival rates.
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