Brain Cancer Advance

LOS ANGELES (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Each year, about 170,000 people will have a tumor in the brain that has spread from another part of the body, and about 15,000 Americans are diagnosed with a primary brain tumor. The deadliest type -- a grade-four glioma -- has a life expectancy of less than a year. Now, one doctor’s lifelong pursuit of finding a better treatment could extend life expectancy and offer hope to patients who need it most.

Richard and June share more than lunch these days. They’re also sharing one of life’s toughest tests. “After 51 years, it’s just, I cannot imagine her not being there, so that’s why this trial is so hard on her,” Richard tells Ivanhoe.

That trial is brain cancer. Richard was recently diagnosed with the most aggressive type there is. He says, “That was a real shock and took some getting used to it.” They sought help and found it in a man who’s been called a hero of medicine -- neurosurgeon Keith L. Black, M.D.

“I’ve been trying to search for an effective treatment for brain tumors my entire medical career,” Dr. Black, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, tells Ivanhoe.

His latest research focuses on special immune cells -- dendritic cells. They’re used to stimulate powerful T-cells using tissue from the patient’s own tumor. “These T-cells will then divide into millions and millions of T-cells that will then invade back into the brain tumor to try to destroy it,” he says.

The vaccine is now delivered directly into the tumor to make it more effective. Richard was the first patient to receive it. “He’s really a patient where we would expect a tumor to behave very, very aggressively, and it looks to be stabilizing,” Dr. Black says.

The vaccine is even more effective when used with chemotherapy. Early research suggests that combination boosts five-year survival from 5 percent to 40 percent.

Richard doesn’t know if he’ll make it five years, but he’s hopeful. He says, “I’d like to live a few more years, but being 73, I know it’s inevitable. Who wants to live forever, anyway? But, I just don’t want to go now.”

Researchers need part of the tumor tissue to make the vaccine, so the tissue needs to be saved when the tumor is surgically removed. If a person has already had their tumor removed, the vaccine may still be used, but not until the cancer recurs. Most high-grade gliomas do recur after the first surgery.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Cedars-Sinai Physician Referral Line
(800) CEDARS-1
http://www.cedars-sinai.edu