A novel treatment for glioblastoma, consisting of a combination of an oncolytic virus, engineered to selectively infect and kill cancer cells, and type of a targeted immunotherapy called immune checkpoint inhibition, is showing promise, prolonging patient survival. Read the article from the University of Toronto here.
Author: angela
More Funding
The Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and Columbia University have been awarded a five-year, $10.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to advance glioblastoma research. For details, read this article.
Immunotherapy for Women
This is interesting: “Among glioblastoma patients, women may derive more benefit from immunotherapy than men, research suggests.”
See full article here.
Nanomedicine Has Potential
“Their study is the first to demonstrate an intravenous medication that can cross the blood-brain barrier. The discovery may one day lead to new clinical therapies for treating glioblastoma, and could lead to further therapies adopting their method for other “undruggable” tumors.”
Read more about how nanomedicine could be a potential treatment/cure for GBMs.
Chinese Medicine and GBMs
This study [PDF] reviews traditional Chinese medicine and how it can help with the treatment of GBMs.
Focused Ultrasound Shows Early Promise
A new study was released looking at focused ultrasound to help treat GBMs. To read the article, click here.
This is the orignial article citation:
Sheehan et al. (2020). Investigation of the tumoricidal effects of sonodynamic therapy in malignant glioblastoma brain tumors. Journal of Neuro-Oncology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-020-03504-w
Lenox Hill
Check out the new series on Netflix called Lenox Hill. The series follows the incredible neurosurgeons at Lenox Hill Hospital as they help patients with GBMs.
Low Carb/High Fat Diets Also Effective
A 2016 study from Clinical Cancer Research suggests that a low carb, high fat diet can have similar anti-tumor, metabolic effects as the ketogenic diet (KD). However, this diet is less restrictive and more palatable than the KD, so it could offer an alternative for glioblastoma patients.
See the full article online at Clinical Cancer Research.
Spreading Awareness
Here is a short clip from CTV News on GBMs, spreading awareness of GBMs, and speaking briefly about Paul Dewar’s experience with the illness.
Positive Results with Cannabidiol Treatment
Research shows the benefits of using cannabidiol (a non-psychoactive component of cannabis) in the treatment of glioblastoma:
… The control group received temozolomide (chemotherapy) only and had a 44% 1-year survival rate. In contrast, the cannabidiol combination plus temozolomide group showed a 83% 1-year survival rate with a median survival over 662 days compared with 369 days in the control group…
Read the full article: Cannabinoids in Glioblastoma Therapy: New Applications for Old Drugs.
Another article can be found here: The Antitumor Activity of Plant-Derived Non-Psychoactive Cannabinoids