UCLA researchers create a promising new treatment for the deadliest form of brain cancer

UCLA scientists have developed a potentially promising new combination therapy for glioblastoma, the most common and deadliest form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma, also known as grade IV glioma, is an aggressive primary brain tumor in humans. Approximately 23,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with glioblastoma every year. Patients usually receive surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, but these treatments are not very effective as an estimated 50 percent of GBM patients die within one year, and 90 percent die within three years. A study led by Dr. Robert Prins and Dr. Linda Liau, both members of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, looked at the impact of a combined treatment using a chemotherapy drug called decitabine and genetically modified immune cells. It is a continuation of previous research, published in 2011, that focused on the effect of decitabine on glioblastoma human cell cultures. In the new research, Prins and Liau used a technique called adoptive cell transfer, which involves extracting and growing immune cells outside of the body, then reprogramming them with a gene known as New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, or NY-ESO-1. They are then injected back into mice with glioblastoma tumors to produce an immune response that targets the brain cancer.  UCLA Robert Prins Glioblastoma cells do not naturally produce NY-ESO-1, so the researchers administered decitabine prior to injecting the reprogrammed T cells in order to cause the tumor cells to...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news