Solid tumors: latest on treaments and research pathways

Nicholas Butowski, MD, associate professor, University of California, San Francisco, neuro-oncologist, UCSF Medical Center, discusses a phase I study of convection-enhanced delivery of nanoliposomal irinotecan (MM-398) for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma or recurrent high-grade glioma.

A few agents have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of high-grade gliomas following orphan drug designation, but most have failed to reach the market. However, a few patients may have benefited from receiving developmental agents within clinical trials. Biomarkers for selection of these patients may result in more success in the field of personalized medicine.

The only FDA-approved, wearable cancer treatment device may expand its reach. A Phase III trial of Optune (NovoTTF-100A System) from Novocure was halted early due to statistically significant efficacy for the device in combination with chemotherapy to treat newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients.
This is an expansion upon its original indication approved by the FDA in 2011 for use as a monotherapy for recurrent glioblastoma after surgical and radiation options have been exhausted.

The vaccine, developed by Larry Harshyne and team at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consists of the patient’s own glioblastoma cells extracted during brain surgery to remove the tumour. The tumour cells are incubated with an antisense oligodeoxynucleotide directed against the insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor and then packaged inside a diffusion chamber that is inserted into the patient’s abdomen.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a new group of cancer treatments that work by boosting the patient's immune response to the tumour. The immune system operates differently in the brain in comparison to other organs. "Our study was designed to find out whether the immune system is activated and working in brain tumours, which would provide the foundation for immune checkpoint inhibitors to work," Berghoff explained.

John and Kendall Suprock told ABC30, "I think the vaccine has increased your confidence. Yeah it has because I think it's going to work."
Parsa hopes the vaccine will help change glioblastoma from a terminal cancer, to a chronic condition like diabetes that can be managed with medication.
Right now, a newly diagnosed patient who receives the vaccine, along with chemo and radiation, will live an average of 24 months versus a median survival of 15 months with standard care alone.

A combination of bevacizumab and lomustine showed promise in a randomized phase II trial of patients with recurrent glioblastoma, according to study results.

Glioblastoma is the most common aggressive primary brain tumor, and despite advances in standard treatment, the median survival is about 15 months (compared to 4 months without treatment).

ST. HELIER, Jersey, Nov. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Novocure™, a commercial stage oncology company, announced...

The vaccine rindopepimut (CDX110) in combination with bevacizumab induced tumor regression in a subset of patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

An electrical device glued to the scalp can slow cancer growth and prolong survival in people with the deadliest type of brain tumor, glioblastoma, researchers have found.

"With this enzyme, we may have found a way to make sure that these cancer cells that are very invasive do not become as aggressive," says Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, M.D., professor of neurological surgery and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Glioblastoma is considered the most devastating human cancer, with median survival at only 14 months after diagnosis. "Our latest findings provide an inroad to possibly stopping cancer cells from having enough energy to grow."

This report provides comprehensive information on the therapeutic development for Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), complete with comparative analysis at various stages, therapeutics assessment by drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type, along with latest updates, and featured news and press releases. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor. GBM samples are classified into subtypes based on their transcriptomic and epigenetic profiles. Despite numerous studies to better characterize GBM biology, a comprehensive study to identify GBM subtype- specific master regulators, gene regulatory networks, and pathways is missing.

The typical regimen for treating Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) after surgery, is one of daily oral Temozolomide chemotherapy taken along with radiation therapy for approximately six weeks.

The high-grade malignant brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) comprise the majority of all primary brain tumors in adults. This group of tumors also exhibits the most aggressive behavior, resulting in median overall survival durations of only 9-12 months for GBM. Initial therapy consists of surgical resection, external beam radiation or both. Currently, all patients experience a recurrence after this first-line therapy, so improvements in both first-line and salvage therapy are critical to enhancing quality-of-life and prolonging survival. Superselective Intraarterial Cerebral Infusion (SIACI) is a technique that can effectively increase the concentration of drug delivered to the brain while sparing the body of systemic side effects. This technique threads a tiny catheter through the patient's femoral artery in the leg, up through the body and neck and into the brain. Once the catheter reaches the brain, chemotherapy is released to the blood vessels that feed the tumor.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) frequently recurs at the same location after radiotherapy. Further dose escalation using conventional methods is limited by normal tissue tolerance.

Drugs that treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases take more than a year longer to develop and are less than half as likely to obtain marketing approval than other drugs, according to a newly completed study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

The proposed project aims to develop novel electrochemotherapeutic treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Standard treatment has limited effect on survival and quality of life. Electrochemotherapy is a novel and promising treatment, which has demonstrated convincing results in the treatment of various types of carcinoma. The treatment is based on a combination of electrical current stimulation of tumor cells and simultaneous administration of chemotherapeutic drugs. Electrochemotherapy works by inducing an electrical current between implanted electrodes in the tumor tissue, causing electroporation of the cancer cell membranes, and thereby increasing the cellular permeability and drug uptake.

She stunned the nation and opened a public debate on the right to die. On Sunday night came word that over the weekend, Brittany Maynard had taken her own life.

The blood-brain barrier is a defensive mechanism that protects our most distinctive organ from toxic materials present in blood. It is also the same mechanism that prevents therapeutic drugs from being able to access the brain. There have been different attempts with limited success to be able to pass large drug molecules through the barrier, but now a new approach developed by CarThera, a Paris, France firm, is showing considerable promise.

Several types of oncolytic viruses have been developed to date. One of them, the reovirus, is a non-enveloped virus with a double-stranded, segmented RNA genome that forms particles that are 60 to 90 nm. The reovirus preferentially replicates in cancer cells that feature a common mutation known as an “activated Ras pathway,” while sparing normal cells. This makes it intrinsically tumor selective without the need for any genetic manipulation.