BBC NEWS | Health | Hope for new brain tumour vaccine:
"A vaccine has been developed which may be able to fight the most aggressive form of brain tumour, scientists say.

US researchers say their vaccine increased survival times for the 23 glioblastoma multiforme patients they tested it on by at least 18 months.

Only four patients went on to die from the cancer, the study to be presented at a meeting of experts in the US said.

A larger trial of the jab, which works by targeting a protein thought to drive the tumour's spread, is now planned.
This is exciting because people have been trying to use immunotherapy against gliomas for a long time
Amy HeimbergerResearcher
It uses an artificial form of the protein, which is found on the outside of 30-50% of tumours, to alert the immune system to its presence and attack it.

The brain is tricked into thinking the protein, known as EGFRvIII, is foreign, and fighter cells in the immune system are sent in.

Amy Heimberger, assistant professor of neurosurgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, said the vaccine was an easy-to-use 'off-the-shelf' treatment that could potentially help half of all patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)."