A radical new treatment for the brain cancer called glioblastoma got a lot of attention on the television show 60 Minutes earlier this year. Now the Duke researchers who are testing a modified poliovirus against this type of deadly tumor have reported results at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The Lowest Dose of Poliovirus Is the Best Dose
Their early research has been focused on finding the best dose, and what they report is that the best dose is the lowest one. In fact, the responses occurred in patients who were given a dose even lower than the first low dose tested.
Higher doses cause more inflammation in the region of the brain tumor, causing serious side effects that need to be controlled with steroids. Corticosteroid drugs dampen the immune reaction responsible for the exceptionally good results the Duke scientists are reporting.
Excellent Results
The first and second patients to have been treated with this protocol have survived at least 31 months after treatments. Glioblastoma is a very serious form of brain cancer. About half of glioblastoma patients succumb to their disease less than 15 months after diagnosis.
ASCO, May, 2015
The Duke researchers have looked beyond poliovirus in their fight against glioblastoma. They reported earlier this year that a simple tetanus booster significantly improved patients’ response to an anti-cancer vaccine.
Image Credited to Christaras A and licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
