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 January 2022 edition in full online here.
Some of the highlights from this month’s round-up:
- The IBTA is pleased to announce the launch of the third episode of its new podcast series: “A brain tumour and me – a journey of inspiration, personal stories and hope”. The third episode features Dr Claire Karekezi, Rwanda’s first and only female neurosurgeon.
- A Swedish and Urdu version of The Brain Tumour Patients’ Charter of Rights is now available here .We would like to extend our warm thanks to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Pakistan and Svenska Hjärntumörföreningen (Swedish Brain Tumour Association) for their wonderful help with these translations.
- A free access study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics tests the hypothesis that the antimitotic effects of TTFields therapy (Optune) result in measurable changes in the location and patterns of progression of newly diagnosed glioblastoma. They found that “there was a direct correlation between TTFields dose distribution and tumor response, confirming the therapeutic activity of TTFields and the rationale for optimizing array placement to maximize TTFields dose in areas at highest risk of progression, as well as array layout adaptation after progression.”
- In a Phase 3, randomised clinical trial of 328 patients with high grade glioma (HGG), the results of which have been published in JAMA Oncology, researchers found that the drug armodafinil provides “no meaningful benefit” in relieving cancer-related fatigue for HGG patients.
- According to a study published in Clinical Cancer Research, the thickness of the temporal muscles (TMT) – which are on the side of the head and used for chewing – was revealed as an independent prognostic marker in newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) patients.
- The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK has this month launched a public consultation on a set of far-reaching proposals to improve and strengthen UK clinical trials legislation. The eight-week consultation, which runs from 17 January until 14 March 2022 asks people for their views on new proposals to improve regulation of clinical trials in the best interests of patients.
- An open access paper published in iScience has reported results of a study from Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States which evaluated the expression profile of olfactory receptors in different breast cancer metastatic sites including lung, bone and brain. The team discovered that by inhibiting the gene OR5B21, there was a significant decrease in the spread (metastasis) of breast cancer cells to these organs and therefore, the gene could be an important therapeutic target to avoid cancer spreading to these parts of the body.
- A study published in Neuro-Oncology Practice has investigated – through the use of data from the US National Cancer Database – the question of an optimal chemotherapy regimen between temozolomide and procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine (PCV) for WHO grade 3 oligodendroglioma patients (“Olig3”). The study revealed that for Olig3 patients, first-line PCV chemotherapy was associated with a “slightly improved unadjusted short-term OS [overall survival] compared to temozolomide; but not following adjustment by patient age and extent of resection”.
- A paper entitled “Why does Africa have the lowest number of neurologists and how to cover the gap?” has been published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences. Responses from a survey conducted in African countries between March 2020 and August 2020 were received from representatives of 50 (92%) of the 54 African nations. Results reported inequity of neurologists across the African continent. For example, the study found that ten African nations including Djibouti, Eritrea, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia and South Sudan do not have any neurologists.
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.
