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Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) wife has passed away following a two-year battle with brain cancer. Barrasso, who is the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, announced Thursday that his wife, Bobbi, died after fighting glioblastoma, a type of cancer that causes brain tumors. “After a courageous battle with cancer, Bobbi is now at peace and at home with the Lord,” the senator said in a statement obtained by Fox News: In addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Bobbi was a leader, fierce advocate for Wyoming, and friend to everyone she met. We miss her dearly. On behalf of...

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...

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...

Brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a disease for which 30% of adults diagnosed survive one year after diagnosis, and only 3% of patients live longer than five years. GBM surgery is assisted by the use of fluorescent photosensitiser (PS) drugs. One such PS is Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), a metadrug of exogenously administered 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). PpIX can precisely guide GBM resection as its prodrug 5-ALA very specifically accumulates in GBM lesions due to structural and functional differences in the vicinity of the GBM tumors. Scientists have found that apart from being a photosensitive drug, 5-ALA is also a potent...

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...

A study describes a new and effective therapy to treat glioblastoma: the concomitant use of ADI-PEG20 together with focal brain radiotherapy. This double treatment completely eliminated the tumor in the animal models used in the study. Currently, glioblastoma is a terminal disease whose average life expectancy is less than two years. The treatments used at present are based on therapies that are more than 30 years old. The results of this study offer a new therapeutic option against glioblastoma: the use of the drug ADI-PEG20, which eliminates systemic arginine, in combination with the application of focal brain radiotherapy. With this,...

A folic acid-like drug, L-methylfolate, when administered alongside the standard therapy for patients with recurrent glioblastoma, changed a DNA process within their brain tumors, according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial. The researchers showed for the first time that the DNA methylome of these brain tumors can be reprogrammed. Stephen Clark, Ph.D. said that this is the first time DNA methylome reprogramming has occurred with any solid human tumor. The DNA methylome is one aspect of the epigenome; the epigenome is a modification of DNA and proteins in a cell that is influenced by the environment. DNA methylation...

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...

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...

BRIT scientists have invented a “sugar bomb” which destroys greedy cancer cells in seconds. Tumours need food in order to spread so gobble up the sweet “bomb” which contains a drug. Brit scientists invent 'sugar bomb' which destroys greedy A light shone on those cancer cells detonates the “explosive”, known as SeNBD. It works because cancers grow fast and need more food than healthy cells, which are not harmed by the drug. Scientists hope the sugar treatment will boost survival and spare patients damaging chemotherapy. So far, it has only been used on glioblastoma, the most common brain cancer. In...

“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.

John McCain’s death from brain cancer at age 81 came exactly nine years after the death of Ted Kennedy – and both longtime U.S. senators died from the same type of brain cancer. McCain, R-Ariz., had been battling the illness for just over a year while Kennedy, D-Mass., died at age 77, 13 months after his diagnosis, the Arizona Republic reported. Both succumbed to glioblastoma, which affects roughly 10,000 Americans a year and is described by doctors as "highly malignant."

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has been battling brain cancer for more than a year, will no longer be treated for his condition, his family announced on Friday, a sign that the Republican war hero is most likely entering his final days. “Last summer, Senator John McCain shared with Americans the news our family already knew: He had been diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma, and the prognosis was serious. In the year since, John has surpassed expectations for his survival. But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict,” the family said...

... After receiving the treatment, Kat's most recent MRI scan showed no trace of the tumour. "DCVax has done what everyone said was impossible," her husband Jason says. "If not for this treatment, I would be without my wife and without a mother for our child." Kat continues to have regular injections of the vaccine. 'Major breakthrough' Keyoumars Ashkan, professor of neurosurgery at King's College Hospital in London, who was the trial's European chief investigator, said the results gave "new hope to the patients and clinicians battling with this terrible disease". "Although definitive judgement needs to be reserved until the...

.Mobile phones may be behind a surge in a deadly brain tumor, scientists say. Cases of glioblastoma in England soared from 983 to 2,531 between 1995 and 2015, figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal. The rise was across all age groups and came as cases of lower-grade tumors fell.

Blocking TRF1 interrupts tumor growth and increases survival in various mouse models of glioblastoma. This is a potential therapeutic option for a disease for which there are no curative treatments. The Telomere and Telomerase Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has shown that it is possible to block the growth of human and murine glioblastoma in mouse models by blocking the TRF1 protein; an essential component of the telomere-protective complex known as shelterin. The study, published in Cancer Cell, describes a new and promising way to combat this type of brain tumour, considered one of the most...

"We take a virus, learn how it works and then we leverage it," said Dr. Michael Diamond, a professor of molecular microbiology, pathology and immunology. "Let's take advantage of what it's good at, use it to eradicate cells we don't want. Take viruses that would normally do some damage and make them do some good." Researcher Zhe Zhu thought that glioblastoma stem cells, which stubbornly resist chemotherapy and radiation to regrow in most patients, looked a lot like the stem cells in a fast growing fetal brain. Since the Zika virus kills those fetal cells, maybe it would do the...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–modified T-cell therapies have already achieved great success in hematologic malignancies, with clinical trial data showing high complete response rates in leukemia and lymphoma. So far, however, there has been little success with this approach in solid tumors. Now a case report indicates dramatic remission in a patient with recurrent and rapidly progressing glioblastoma. The case is described in a brief report published December 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Treatment with CAR T-cell therapy led to a transient, complete response in a patient with recurrent multifocal glioblastoma, with dramatic improvements in quality of life,...

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been diagnosed with brain cancer following surgery he had last weekend, according to CNN.

Chad Pergram‏Verified account @ChadPergram 45s46 seconds ago Mayo clinic on McCain says his procedure "revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot." #BREAKING McCain has a brain tumor. Will continue to be out for a while. Reviewing treatment options. Could include chemotherapy