Triple therapy for glioblastoma has prolonged the survival of mice with a brain cancer -
A triple therapy for glioblastoma, including two types of immunotherapy and radiation targeted, significantly prolonged the survival of mice with these brain cancer, according to a new report by scientists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
mouse with implanted derived mouse glioblastoma cells lived an average of 67 days after triple therapy, compared to mice lasted 24 days they received only two immunotherapies. Half of the mice that received the triple therapy lived 100 days or more and were protected against new tumors when new cancer cells were re-injected under the skin of animals.
The combined treatment described in July 11 number PLOS One is a highly targeted radiation specifically to the tumor and strategies that raise the brakes and activate the immune system of the body, for anti-cancer drugs to attack the tumor. One of immunotherapies is an antibody that binds to and blocks an immune checkpoint molecule on T cells called CTLA-4, allowing T cells to infiltrate and fight against tumor cells. The second immunotherapy, known under the name 4-1BB, provides a positive "go" signal T. stimulating anti-tumor cells
None of the treatments are new, but have been used by the Johns Hopkins team to demonstrate the value of the combination of treatments that enhance the immune response against glioblastoma, the most common brain tumors in adult man. The prognosis is generally poor, even with early treatment.
"We try to find an optimal balance between push and pull the immune system to kill the cancer," said Charles Drake, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of oncology, immunology and urology and medical oncologist at Johns Hopkins Kimmel cancer Center.
researchers believe that when the radiation destroys tumor cells, dead tumor cells may release proteins that help immune cells train to recognize and attack the cancer, said Michael Lim, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery, oncology at the medical school at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Johns Hopkins Institute NanoBiotechnology.
"Traditionally, radiation is used as a permanent treatment to kill cancer cells directly," said Lim, who is also director of the Immunotherapy Program brain tumors and director of the Brain Metastatic Tumor Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine University. "But in this situation, we use radiation as a kind of small wood, to try to induce an immune response."
Lim said if other studies confirm the value triple therapy in animals and humans, radiation could be delivered a few days before or after immunotherapies and still get the same results. Lim said this flexibility "could make requests of this therapy among potential patients. "
the researchers say they were also encouraged to see that triple therapy created" immune memory "in mice that survived the long term. When the brain tumor cells were reintroduced under the skin of animals, their immune system appeared to protect against the development of new brain tumor.
Drake said, because the immune system generally does not generate memory (tumor) when foreign cells are still present in the body. "But the idea that this combination therapy was able to generate an immunological memory really suggest that we could make the patients and generate long-term answers."
Researchers develop a variety of clinical trials to test combination therapies against brain tumors.
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