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Diabetic patients who take anti-diabetic drugs—known as glitazones—long term had a lower risk of primary and secondary brain cancer compared with diabetic patients on other medications, new research has found. The study suggests these drugs could be repurposed to prevent brain metastasis in cancer patients who are at high risk of secondary cancers. PPAR- α agonists (fibrates) and PPAR γ agonists (glitazones) drugs are clinically important due to their widespread safe use to treat high cholesterol (hyperlipidemia) and diabetes. Previous studies have suggested that fibrates and glitazones may have a role in brain tumor prevention. Given the safety and cost...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Washington D.C. – Just months after securing an $18 million judgment against Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, news broke that Cecile Richards is suffering from terminal brain cancer. Jesus exhorted his followers to “love our enemies” and “pray for those who persecute us.” With that sentiment, Operation Rescue is asking all followers of Jesus to pray for the healing and salvation of Planned Parenthood’s former chief executive. When the groundbreaking Center for Medical Progress (CMP) videos hit the news in 2015, revealing Planned Parenthood’s illegal sale of baby body parts, Cecile Richards was President of Planned...

In a phase 2 clinical trial of the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab, investigators found that 42 percent of patients with metastatic brain cancer benefited from the therapy, with seven patients in the trial surviving longer than two years. "There are very few effective treatments for patients with brain metastases. Our overarching objective is to find improved therapies for this patient population," said Priscilla K. Brastianos, MD. "With this trial, we investigated pembrolizumab, which is an immunotherapy for patients with brain metastases. We showed that pembrolizumab was tolerated and showed clinical benefit in the brain in 42 percent of patients, which...

A type of immune therapy called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of multiple types of blood cancers but has shown limited efficacy against glioblastoma and other solid tumors. New research suggests that drugs that correct abnormalities in a solid tumor's blood vessels can improve the delivery and function of CAR-T cell therapy. With CAR-T cell therapy, immune cells are taken from a patient's blood and are modified in the lab. "One of the main reasons that CAR-T therapy hasn't worked well against solid tumors is that intravenously administered cells are only capable of migrating to...

New research pinpoints a key cause of metastasis from an aggressive form of brain cancer in children and provides a potential new therapy for treating these tumors. Physician-scientists discovered that medulloblastomas hijack a skill that normal brain cells use during their early development and then manipulate it to help tumors spread. "Children with medulloblastomas that have not yet metastasized may have a high likelihood of long-term survival, but if those tumors have spread, the survival rate is significantly reduced," said Baoli. "Longstanding challenges that we face in the field include understanding how tumors are able to spread and how we...

Researchers have provided important molecular understanding of how injury may contribute to the development of a relatively rare but often aggressive form of brain tumor called a glioma. The UCL team have now identified a possible mechanism to explain this link, implicating genetic mutations acting in concert with brain tissue inflammation to change the behavior of cells. Professor Parrinello said, "Normally astrocytes are highly branched, but we found that without p53 and only after an injury the astrocytes had retracted their branches and become more rounded. They weren't quite stem cell-like, but something had changed. So we let the mice...

Patients with glioblastoma—the deadliest type of primary brain tumor—may potentially benefit from immunotherapy medications called immune checkpoint inhibitors that stimulate an immune response against cancer cells. However, they may also experience brain swelling, or cerebral edema, during treatment. Cerebral edema is currently controlled by steroids that are highly immunosuppressive and thus, counter the benefit of immunotherapy. Thus, new drugs that control edema safely without causing immunosuppression are urgently needed. New research reveals that the blood pressure drug losartan can prevent immunotherapy-induced edema. The findings indicate that taking losartan may allow patients to continue receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors without developing adverse...

It is a very modern dilemma. Should you hand your child a smartphone, or keep them away from the devices as long as possible? As a parent, you'd be forgiven for thinking of a smartphone as a sort of Pandora's box with the ability to unleash all the world's evils on your child's wholesome life. The bewildering array of headlines relating to the possible impact of children's phone and social media use are enough to make anyone want to opt out. Apparently, even celebrities are not immune to this modern parenting problem: Madonna has said that she regretted giving her...

Researchers have identified a molecular pathway responsible for the spread of glioblastoma to surrounding tissue in the brain, as well as an existing drug that curbed tumor growth in animal models. Researchers have long considered the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a protein that sits on the surface of cells, as a driver of this cancer. In nearly half of glioblastoma patients, the gene that codes for EGFR is amplified, causing tumor cells to proliferate. EGFR on glioblastoma cells can send these signals in two ways: either without prompting, a state known as constitutive signaling, or when stimulated with proteins...

Patients diagnosed with a type of brain tumor survived for longer when they were treated aggressively with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But far from suggesting that more treatment always leads to better survival, the study by UC San Francisco underscores the critical role of genomic profiling in diagnosing and grading brain tumors. In the study, UCSF researchers followed 38 patients with a tumor type that was reclassified by the World Health Organization in November 2021, from a grade 2 or 3 glioma, to a "glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype, CNS WHO grade 4," based on its molecular features. The previous diagnosis was determined...

Abstract Context: The current science is not definitive about health risks from wireless phones; however, the legitimate questions about safety that have arisen from recent studies make claims of absolute safety no longer supportable. Objective: The objective of this paper is to outline for primary care providers the results of the most current research on the possible impact of wireless phone use on human health. Presented are study results from Wireless Technology Research (WTR) program, the 7-year, $27 million effort funded by the wireless industry in the United States, that represents the world's most comprehensive research effort addressing this issue...

The news that Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, had been diagnosed with breast cancer was met by an outpouring of sympathy from Democrats and Republicans alike — but was also greeted with sick jubilation and mockery from the darker corners of social media. Democratic Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is running to unseat DeSantis in next year’s gubernatorial election, tweeted: “Our hearts are with Florida’s First Lady Casey DeSantis and her family. We are all praying for you!” After repeating the message in Spanish, Fried fired off a preemptive warning to would-be trolls.

All cancer is nasty, but some forms are nastier than others. Take glioblastoma, a thankfully rare form of tumor: It grows quickly and aggressively on the brain or brain stem, cannot be cured, and is almost always fatal. It's also hard to treat, requiring intensive radio and chemotherapy that patients are often unable to complete. But scientists may have just found a new method: a noninvasive cap that uses an oscillating magnetic field to shrink the tumor. The device was recently tested on a 53-year-old glioblastoma patient, whose tumor showed a remarkable 31 percent size reduction in a short time...

A British man who rejected the standard of care to treat his brain cancer has lived with the typically fatal glioblastoma tumor growing very slowly after adopting a ketogenic diet, providing a case study that researchers say reflects the benefits of using the body's own metabolism to fight this particularly aggressive cancer instead of chemo and radiation therapy. Published recently in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, the report is the first evaluation of the use of ketogenic metabolic therapy (KMT) without chemo or radiation interventions, on a patient diagnosed with IDH1-mutant glioblastoma (GBM). Ketogenic therapy is a non-toxic nutritional approach,...

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh combined the tiny cancer-killing molecule called SeNBD with a chemical food to trick the harmful cells into ingesting it. Cancerous cells are 'greedy' and need to consume high amounts of food for energy and they typically ingest more than healthy cells, the experts said. By coupling SeNBD with a chemical food compound it becomes the 'ideal prey for harmful cells' which ingest it 'without being alerted to its toxic nature'.Scientists hope the treatment will boost survival rates among cancer patients and spare many from damaging chemotherapy. So far, it has only been used on...

Killer T cells surround a cancer cell. Credit: NIH ========================================================= ANSTO has contributed to a comprehensive investigation of a promising type of nanoparticle that could potentially be used for intractable brain cancers in a combined therapy. The study, which was led by Dr. Moeava Tehei and researchers from the University of Wollongong in combination with clinical partners, characterized and evaluated the properties of nanoparticles made from lanthanum manganite, that were doped with silver atoms. The investigators found that the nanoparticles had potential clinical application for their synergistic effects to be used in combination with radiation treatment, hyperthermia (using heat to...

A Butler County girl currently fighting cancer received the surprise of her life courtesy of the Butler County Sheriff's Office. Naomi Short, 8, was surprised this weekend when she got to meet and ride a unicorn. The animal, named Anna Marie, is part of the Sheriff's Office's mounted patrol. "I'm obsessed with unicorns," she said. "I've always wanted to meet a real unicorn in real life. It was so pretty and magical." Short was diagnosed with stage 4 pineoblastoma, a rare brain cancer, in October. The sweet but sassy third-grader just completed radiation and starts chemotherapy Friday at Children's Hospital....

When Peyton Dennis told his mom, Katie Ann, that he wanted to run in the kids’ race at the Pottersville Sod Slingers lawn mower race weekend in Pottersville, Michigan, on August 24, she wasn’t too surprised. “Peyton’s always been an active kid. He wants to do what all the other kids are doing,” Katie Ann, who lives with her family in Ionia, Michigan, told Runner’s World. “When he found out there was a race that weekend, he insisted on doing it—even though he has trouble walking now, let alone running.” At the end of February, 5-year-old Peyton was diagnosed with...

Classy: Nothing good that POTUS Donald Trump does will ever placate the perpetually triggered and angry American Left, but what he did for a 10-year-old girl battling stage four brain cancer this Christmas is worthy of high praise indeed. Cleveland resident Oliviah Hall has been battling a brain tumor since 2017 after being diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme Grade IV. She was able to meet POTUS Trump during his midterm swing through Ohio and had a picture taken with him and her family.

“Some people live longer, many live shorter,” he observes. “At the end of the day, there are very, very few long-term survivors.” Help may soon be on the way, however.