[01 May 2021] The IBTA’s monthly e-News has been released and has emailed to all subscribers. To sign up to receive your copy, click here.
You can also read the IBTA e-News April 2021 edition in full online here.
Some of the highlights from this month’s round-up:
- Updated guidelines on the management of central nervous system tumours have been published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology. Created using the most current and clinically relevant evidence, these guidelines were developed through the work of the Joint Section on Tumors of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
- Positive early results have led the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recommend that an ongoing, 84-patient phase 2 trial of an immunotherapy named ERC1671 should be stopped early so that a randomised, confirmatory phase 3 trial of the therapy can begin.
- Published in Neuro-Oncology Advances, a study has provided preliminary evidence to suggest that glioblastoma patients who take their temozolomide chemotherapy in the morning fare better than those who take it in the evening (17 months vs 13.5 months survival post diagnosis).
- In research published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology, analysis of data from the US National Cancer Database of 68,979 patients aged 40 years or older with glioblastoma has found that non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics were less likely to receive radiation and chemotherapy than non-Hispanic Whites, and time to starting radiotherapy and chemotherapy was approximately two days and four days longer respectively compared with non-Hispanic Whites.
- Exposure of women to a wide variety of pesticides during pregnancy may be linked to an increased risk of their children developing a brain tumour, according to an observational study published in Environmental Research.
- Findings from a clinical trial of a vaccine targeting the mutated IDH1 protein, present in the majority of diffuse glioma tumours, have been published in the journal Nature. Among the patients whose immune system responded to the vaccines, a total of 82 percent had no tumour progression within the three-year period of the study and researchers are planning a phase 2 trial to further test the vaccine.
- Published in the British Journal of Cancer, a phase 1b clinical trial of a cannabinoid mouth spray (nabiximols) combined with temozolomide chemotherapy in recurrent glioblastoma patients has found it to be safe, well tolerated, and that it did not interact with other drugs.
- Treatment with an experimental oncolytic virus (a herpes cold sore virus genetically engineered to infect and kill only brain tumour cells) named G207 has been found to be safe and successfully stimulates the immune system to invade and attack brain tumours in children with recurrent high-grade glioma.
- In lab-based studies published in Nature Communications, a vitamin-like substance called inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) inhibited the growth of paediatric medulloblastoma, when combined with cisplatin chemotherapy.
- A new anti-cancer drug CBL0137, developed from the antimalarial drug quinacrine, was found to reduce the growth of paediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) in animal experiments, according to findings published in the journal Cell Reports.
Our monthly e-News highlights items of interest to our international brain tumour community and is emailed to approximately 6,000 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. You can sign up to receive the e-News every month by registering here.
To see an archive of existing e-News issues, click here.
