Brain Tumor Awareness Month: Novel treatments exceed expectations, CAR-Ts show promise
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May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month.
An estimated 25,400 new cases of malignant brain or spinal cord tumors will be diagnosed in the United States this year, according to American Cancer Society, and approximately 18,760 people will die of the disease.
In conjunction with Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Healio provides the following updates about advances in prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
1. The FDA granted accelerated approval to tovorafenib (Ojemda, Day One Biopharmaceuticals) for the treatment of certain children with relapsed or refractory low-grade glioma. Read more.
2. The prolonged use of certain progestogen hormone drugs — such as medrogestone, medroxyprogesterone acetate, promegestone — increased the risk for developing intracranial meningioma. Read more.
3. A novel bivalent-targeting, intrathecally delivered chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy decreased tumor size among patients with recurrent glioblastoma. “These results exceeded our expectations,” Stephen J. Bagley, MD, MSCE, section chief of neuro-oncology at Penn Medicine, told Healio. Read more.
4. Focused ultrasound could provide clinicians a safer alternative for diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients with brain tumors compared with biopsy. “The results are encouraging,” Eric C. Leuthardt, MD, professor and vice chair of innovation in the department of neurology at Washington University in St. Louis, told Healio. “This is a pilot trial. It’s early. We’re still refining our ultrasound parameters. We’re still refining our capabilities.” Read more.
5. A novel CAR T-cell therapy produced significant tumor reductions in glioblastoma. Read more.
6. Engineered CAR T cells designed to target the tumor-associated antigen interleukin-13 receptor alpha 2 exhibited therapeutic activity in glioblastoma. Researchers administered the CAR T cells directly into the brain tumor and cerebrospinal fluid. Read more.
7. An international team of investigators has identified a drug candidate that nearly doubles survival rates for patients with diffuse midline glioma, an aggressive type of childhood brain tumor. Read more.
8. An implantable microdevice designed to test treatments in patients with gliomas during standard-of-care surgery has been easily and safely incorporated into surgical practice. Read more.
Reference:
- American Cancer Society. Key statistics for brain and spinal cord tumors. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/brain-spinal-cord-tumors-adults/about/key-statistics.html. Published Jan. 17, 2024. Accessed May 14, 2024.
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