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IBTA e-News January 2017 released

By 3rd February 2017March 25th, 2017News archive
[31 January 2017] The IBTA’s monthly e-News has now been released and has been emailed to all subscribers. To sign up to receive your copy, click here.

Some of the highlights from the January issue include:

  • The UK-based ‘HeadSmart’ campaign, which aims to cut the average diagnosis times of paediatric brain tumours in the UK to four weeks or less, has been officially relaunched. Updated clinical guidelines that use new evidence form part of the relaunch.
  • A study published in Stem Cell Reports has found that a drug that blocks a specific protein (RAD51), which allows glioblastoma cells to repair their DNA, increases the effectiveness of radiotherapy.
  • According to an analysis of 117 glioblastoma patients, a study published in Neuro-Oncology has uncovered that there may be a subtype of glioblastoma tumour that are sensitive to antiangiogenic (e.g. bevacizumab) treatment.
  • An analysis of registered clinical trials for glioblastoma treatments between 2005 and 2015 has found that the number of phase II treatment trials is increasing, but the later-stage phase III clinical trials are on the decline.
  • Animal experiments have discovered that for glioblastoma tumours treated with immunotherapy, it may be better to give chemotherapy by a wafer directly into the brain rather than delivered to the whole body, because of the effects immunotherapy has on the immune system.
  • A large international study has been able to classify the rare and aggressive childhood brain tumour, atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumours (ATRTs), into three subgroups, each of which may respond to different drugs and therapies.
  • Researchers have found that the antimalarial drug chloroquine may make a subtype of brain tumours (those with a BRAFV600Egenetic mutation) more sensitive to other treatments.
  • You can read the IBTA e-News January 2017 edition in full online here. You can sign up to receive the e-News every month by registering here.

Our monthly e-News highlights items of interest to our international brain tumour community and is emailed to nearly 7,000 recipients. It gives a round-up of the latest research and treatment developments, news about brain tumour patient organisations around the world, and key forthcoming neuro-oncology scientific and patient conferences.

To see an archive of existing e-News issues, click here.