Glioblastoma is a lethal brain cancer with a patient’s survival generally twelve to eighteen months. Standard treatment has been chemotherapy, surgery or radiation.
As referenced recently in Medicalxpress, the disease is perhaps the most common but aggressive brain tumor in adults.
The goal of surgery is to remove as much of the tumor as possible without interfering with healthy brain tissue. Surgery has thus far not been effective because the cancer can spread to other parts of the brain.
A Potential Solution
The study, published recently in Nature Medicine, is an experimental treatment that will be investigated in a clinical trial led by researchers from the Brain Cancer Center (BCC).
Professor Georgiana Long AO, Medical Director at the University of Sydney is credited for developing the pre surgery (neoadjuvant) treatment. The professor’s background in immunotherapy greatly influenced her ability to develop the first known use of triple immunotherapy for glioblastoma.
Three drugs are used prior to surgery. These drugs send instructions to T cells to attack tumor cells. The new paper explains that after the tumor is removed and treated there is increased immune cell activation.
The patient described in the study was free of cancer during the eighteen-month period after which the paper was submitted for final approval.
Dr. Long proved that it would be possible to administer a combination immunotherapy before surgery that would set off T-cells that would attack the brain tumor. Dr. Long had previously developed this approach in late stages of melanoma.
The professor commented that the trial is expected to determine whether the approach is effective in treating glioblastoma.
About the Treatment Hypothesis
The clinical trial Led by an Australian international team will investigate whether the approach is feasible in a large group of glioblastoma patients. The trial may begin in a year’s time.
This study will involve the use of double immunotherapy whichS for some patients will be combined with chemotherapy.
The BCC will lead the trial under Jim Whittle, M.D., one of Australia’s leading neuro-oncologists.
The BCC will announce the recruitment period for the clinical trial later in the year limiting enrolment to eligible patients.
Source: Medical Xpress
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Last modified: March 4, 2025
