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 August 2022 edition in full online here.
Some of the highlights from this month’s round-up:
- The IBTA is delighted to announce that its paper on “Brain Tumour Patients and COVID-19 vaccines: results of an international survey” has been published in final format in Neuro-Oncology Advances. The IBTA conducted an anonymous online survey in eight languages between June 20, 2021 and August 31, 2021 which was open to adult brain tumour patients.
- Research published in the journal Neuro-Oncology Advances has found that certain genetic features of newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GB) tumours are linked to better outcomes when treated with Tumor-Treating Fields (TTFields) therapy.
- Published in Neuro-Oncology, a paper titled “RANO categories for extent of resection in glioblastoma” from an international Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) group, called “RANO resect”, has concluded that a new classification system for surgical removal of glioblastoma would help clinical studies be compared more easily and so speed advances in practice.
- Writing in Neuro-Oncology Practice, the International Neuro-oncology Caregiver Consortium (INCC) has found that although research into the impact of brain tumours on caregivers has been increasing in recent years, there is little consistency in how the lives of caregivers are being assessed. The study authors say that research into the field of neuro-oncology caregiving is still “lagging behind research in other caregiver populations…in terms of defining and establishing key constructs and consistent ways to assess these”.
- Published in the journal Science, a team of researchers has developed a drug related to temozolomide that may prove effective when a glioma tumour has developed resistance to the treatment. The new temozolomide-like drug, KL50, contains an ‘interstrand crosslinking agent’ to damage DNA in a way that cannot be repaired in MGMT-mutant tumour cells. The drug showed good effect in mice with glioblastoma.
- In an effort to find out the best scanning technology for differentiating between true tumour growth and pseudoprogression, a team of researchers from the UK analysed previously published research investigating the topic. The results are published in Scientific Reports.
- A thirteen-year study examining the effectiveness of ‘keyhole’ surgery for meningiomas in a US neuroscience institute has found that these minimally invasive techniques, which involve only small holes into the skull, could achieve similar results to more extensive traditional operations, have low rates of complication, and tend to result in short hospital stays.
- Results from a phase 2 clinical trial (TUXEDO-1) published in Nature Medicine have shown that the treatment T-DXd (trastuzumab deruxtecan), which is a drug fused with an antibody that targets cancer cells, was effective in slowing or stopping the growth of brain metastases in patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer. Of the fifteen patients in the trial, two patients (13.3%) had a complete intracranial response, nine (60%) had a partial intracranial response and three (20%) had stable disease.
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.
