News Story: Full Text: "Researchers have discovered two markers which indicate a response to erlotinib, a drug for the treatment of brain cancer.
For many years, there has been little progress in the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant type of brain tumor. Then a new type of drug, erlotinib, which is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, came along. Some patients respond well to erlotinib, others do not. To determine why there is this difference, doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, looked at a group of 41 patients in a trial of erlotinib.

Tests showed that there were two biomarkers associated with response to erlotinib. One was a higher level of a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor. The other was low levels of an enzyme called PKB/Akt. In this trial, eight of the patients showed a good response to erlotinib. The findings can be used to plan more effective clinical trials of erlotinib and related drugs and also to select the treatment that is most appropriate for each patient.




Source
Journal of the National Cancer Institute 15th June 2005 Volume 97 pages 880-887"

News Story: Full Text: " Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered the presence of stem cells in the cerebellum, a brain region where a deadly type of brain tumor originates. Their findings suggest that such tumors, called medulloblastomas, could arise from stem cells gone awry.

The cerebellum is the brain's control center for motor coordination and cognitive function, yet little has been known about the origins of the neurons and supporting 'glial' cells that populate this region.

The Duke discovery of stem cells in the cerebellum suggests a possible origin for these normal cells and provides a starting point for understanding the basis of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children, said the researchers."

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LINKA new anti-cancer drug, which has significantly increased the chances of survival for brain cancer patients, will be subsidised and put to front line use from today by the Federal Government.

Developed in the United States, Temodal works by preventing cancer cells from replicating themselves, and has shown remarkable success for the most common form of brain cancer, the highly malignant gliobastoma multiforme or GBM.

“This is welcome news for patients diagnosed with GBM, because in the past, chemotherapy given to newly diagnosed patients had no impact on containing this aggressive brain cancer,” says Dr Gail Ryan, from Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

“Doctors had only limited options to treat this brain cancer, predominantly relying on surgery and radiotherapy to shrink the tumour.

Clinton Beattie was 12-years-old when severe headaches started waking him during the night. At first, he put them down to migraine, but scans revealed brain cancer. After six years of chemotherapy, radiation and brain surgery, he was placed on the drug.

“I’d had about 14 operations to relieve pressure and try and eliminate the tumour,” he says, adding that the tumour eventually began to impact on his sight and balance.

But on Temodal, the tumour shrunk by 25 percent within three months.

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