The IBTA’s monthly e-News has been released and has emailed to all subscribers. Emailed to over 5,000 people around the globe, including clinicians, patients, researchers and others, 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.
This month’s highlights
You can read the IBTA e-News March 2023 edition in full online here.
Some highlights from this month’s round-up:
- We are so very sad to report the death of Denis Strangman who, in 2005, co-founded the International Brain Tumour Alliance. Denis, 81, passed away from oesophageal cancer in Australia on 26th April. A devoted family man, Denis established Brain Tumour Australia following his wife Margaret’s diagnosis of a glioblastoma in 2000. Denis’s determined and unique brand of advocacy took him all over the world in pursuit of better outcomes for brain tumour patients.
- Results from a phase 2 clinical trial of proton therapy following limited surgery in children and adolescents with craniopharyngioma have been published in The Lancet Oncology. Ninety-four patients were treated with surgery and proton therapy and their outcomes compared with the expected outcomes from a historical cohort. Analysis showed that cognitive outcomes with proton therapy were improved compared to x-ray based (photon) radiotherapy, although survival outcomes were not improved and severe complication rates were similar.
- According to a study published in the journal Nature Materials, a team of researchers has developed a drug delivery system that uses nanoparticles to deliver anticancer drugs directly into medulloblastoma tumours.
- A research study published in Communications Biology has tested Proton Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) on mice with glioblastoma, comparing it with conventional proton beam therapy. PBCT uses a combination of protons and boron-containing molecules to increase the effectiveness and reduce side-effects of proton beam therapy.
- In a paper published in Scientific Reports, researchers have described how they have compiled a large database of genetic data relevant to brain tumour research and made it publicly available via an interactive online tool called Oncoscape.
- A study published in Cell Reports Medicine has suggested that a drug formulation derived from indirubin, a molecule found in indigo plants used in Chinese medicine, can improve glioblastoma survival in mice. Researchers formulated 6-bromoindirubin-3′-acetoxime (BiA, a derivative of indirubin) into a nanoparticle-based drug called PPRX-1701 which could be injected into the blood.
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